Daikundi schools have been ordered to enforce a uniform of all white clothes and caps and girls must attend in a white scarf, or face punishment.
Samira Siddiqi*, 33, a resident of Daikundi’s capital Shahristan, said the order was issued by the local Taliban authorities less than a month ago.
According to Samira, male school students were told to wear white hats, white shirts, white turbans, and black vests. She said the Taliban threatened those who disobey will either not be allowed to enter the school or will be dealt with violently.
Two of her children are among those forced to wear the prescribed clothes. “After my children were not allowed to enter the school one day, we had to prepare that outfit for them,” she said.
She fears for what it means for her children’s education with the uniform resembling the schools known for fundamentalist views. “When you look at the students of the schools, they all look like the students of Deobandi religious schools in Pakistan,” she said. “Many people are afraid. Personally, I am worried that my children’s thoughts will become like the students at Deobandi religious schools.”
Samira said she worries as a mother that her children will be led to extremism.
Another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the implementation of this dress code first began at Sang-e-Moom boys’ high school and is now being enforced in all the schools in the center of the province.
He added that the burden of cost has been a big problem for many families, with the order being seriously enforced in Daikundi’s capital and families having no choice but afford the new uniform.
