During the first Taliban regime (1996-2001), girls did not attend school at all, not even primary school.
Afghan students will now have to attend compulsory Islamic studies courses, officials from the Taliban’s education ministry announced today in Kabul.
Those officials gave no indication of when secondary schools, which have been closed since March, would reopen for girls.
“We are adding another five courses of religious content to the eight” that currently exist in university studies, said Abdul Baki Haqqani, the minister of higher education. Among them are Islamic History, Politics and Governance. Compulsory religious classes will increase from one to three per week. The minister assured that none of the subjects of the current curriculum in the universities will be abolished. Some schools, however, have already modified their curriculum to include subjects such as music or sculpture, subjects considered taboo under the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic law. Some other subjects are no longer taught, due to a mass exodus of teachers after the Taliban took power a year ago.
When asked when secondary schools for girls would reopen, an education ministry official said the problem was that families in rural areas were “not convinced” that it was necessary to send their daughters to school. Previously, the ministry claimed that the school closures were due to “technical and financial” reasons. Until schools reopen, young Afghan women cannot obtain a high school diploma and therefore cannot apply for university admission.
During the first Taliban regime (1996-2001), girls did not attend school at all, not even primary school.
RES-EMP
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