Afghanistan new school year starts, girls kept away from secondary education

The school year started in Afghanistan, but without girls. The Taliban barred girls from attending classes beyond the sixth grade, making it the only country with restrictions on female education. The UN children’s agency says the ban will affect more than 1 million girls. It is also estimated that 5 million people were out of school before the Taliban took over due to lack of facilities and other reasons. The Taliban’s education ministry kicked off the new academic year with a ceremony that female journalists were not allowed to attend. The invitation sent to the journalists said that due to lack of suitable space for the sisters, we apologize to the women journalists.

During a ceremony, Taliban Education Minister Habibullah Agha said the ministry was trying to raise the quality of religious and modern science education as much as possible. With the turn to madrassas or religious schools the Taliban is prioritizing Islamic knowledge over basic literacy and numeracy. The minister also called on students to avoid wearing clothes that are contrary to Islamic and Afghan principles. Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi said they were trying to expand education to all remote areas of the country.

The Taliban had previously said that continuing the girls’ education was against their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, and required certain conditions for their return to school. However, he did not make any progress in creating the said conditions. When he ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, he also banned girls’ education.