The Taliban has indefinitely banned women and girls from primary and higher education in measures that further curtail their rights.
The first order, issued in a letter by Afghanistan’s ministry of higher education and confirmed by the department’s spokesperson, comes three months after thousands sat entrance exams. The edict forbids women from university campuses for the foreseeable future.
The second edict, prohibiting girls from attending primary school, came on Thursday. The step came following a meeting between police officials, the ministry for the propropagation of virtue and prevention of vice, and the country’s national intelligence agency.
The latest move, which was not officially announced, means Afghan women and girls now effectively face a total ban on education.
They folllow increasing restrictions on both Afghan women and girls from accessing public spaces. In September 2021, when secondary schools re-opened shortly after the militant group took hold of the country, girls were barred from going to secondary schools when it only mentioned male students teaching staff could return, in a U-turn. Since then they have been banned from appearing on TV shows, and accessing parks, gyms and public baths.
Here, we breakdown what these edicts on education mean for girls and women.
What is the ban about?
Their latest measures, announced earlier this week, will see young girls and women no longer permitted to go to pimary school or university until otherwise stated.
Ban on attending university
A letter signed by the minister for higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, stated: “You all are informed to implement the mentioned order of suspending education of females until further notice.”
The order came into effect the following morning, and on Thursday, dozens of women gathered outside university campuses around the country, including Kabul University, in protest of the move. Some male students joined them.
As armed guards violently turned women across the country away, activist group, Unity and Solidarity of Afghanistan Women spoke out against politicising education.
“Do not make education political!” they said. “Once again university is banned for women, we do not want to be eliminated!” they were heard chanting in Dari, outside Kabul’s Edrak University.
In response, Nadeem told Afghanistan’s state broadcaster RTA, the decision was made after women defied rules put out in May, decreeing them to be fully covered in public.
“We told girls to have proper hijab but they didn’t and they wore dresses like they are going to a wedding ceremony,” he told RTA. He added: “Girls were studying agriculture and engineering, but this didn’t match Afghan culture. Girls should learn, but not in areas that go against Islam and Afghan honour.”
Ban on girls going to primary school
The government has not released an official statement but the notice also bars young girls from attending primary school.
Female teaching staff have also been banned.
Notifications from Taliban officials on messaging service WhatsApp informed staff of the ban but another suggested it would not come into effect until confirmation from official sources.
How has the world reacted?
The further crackdowns attracted staunch criticism from around the world, as many highlighted the Taliban was backtracking on promises not to repeat their repressive rule of the 1990s. In August 2021, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, told a press conference it would respect women within the bounds of their interpretation of Islamic law.
But the latest ban further contradicts the pledge.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the move will make it harder for the group to be “accepted by the international community” as the roll-back on women’s rights takes them to a “dark future without opportunity”.
The UK government released a statement in condemnation.
“This decision will have damaging consequences for the Taliban by further isolating them from the people of Afghanistan and the international community,” Lord Tariq Ahmad, minister of state for Foreign, CAommonwealth and Development Office, said. He added the UK would not lift travel ban waivers on the group until restrictions on education were not removed.
UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak warned: “The world is watching.”
As a father to daughters, I cannot imagine a world in which they’re denied an education.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) December 21, 2022
The women of Afghanistan have so much to offer. Denying them access to university is a grave step backwards.
The world is watching. We will judge the Taliban by their actions.
“The women of Afghanistan have so much to offer. Denying them access to university is a grave step backwards,” he said in a tweet.
The United Nations urged the group to rethink and revoke their decision.
“The UN family and the entire humanitarian community in Afghanistan share the outrage of millions of Afghans and the international community over the decision by the Taliban de facto authorities to close universities to female students across the country until further notice and calls on the de facto authorities to immediately revoke the decision,” a statement from the The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) read.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “It’s difficult to imagine how a country can develop, can deal with all of the challenges that it has, without the active participation of women and the education.”
Leaders and representatives from Islamic republics were also quick to point out that the ban did not align with Islamic values.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “What harm is there in women’s education? What harm does it do to Afghanistan?”
He added: Is there an Islamic explanation? On the contrary, our religion, Islam, is not against education; on the contrary, it encourages education and science.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry stated it was “astonishing in all Islamic countries.”
Whilst maintaining dialogue with the militant group, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation called on them to “reverse it for the sake the sake of maintaining consistency between their promises and actual decisions”.
Speaking to The Guardian, journalism student Madina, 18, said the Taliban had “buried our dreams.”
“I have nothing to say. Not only me but all my friends have no words to express our feelings. Everyone is thinking about the unknown future ahead of them.” she said.
On the violence from armed guards, a woman speaking under anonymity, told the BBC: “They beat some of our girls and arrested some others. They were about to take me too, but I managed to escape. But I was beaten badly.”
An arts student at a university in Kabul told NPR news agency: “The Taliban took our last hope from us. The female students had their last exam tomorrow,” she said. “But the Taliban closed the gates of university today.”
