The Taliban announced today that girls’ high schools and lyceums will be closed in the Afghanistanjust hours after they reopened, an Islamist official confirmed.
“Yes, it is true,” he said Inamullah Samangani, spokesman for the Taliban without giving further details, confirming the information according to which the girls were asked to return to their homes.
A team from the French Agency was filming the lesson this morning Girls high school in Kabulwhen a teacher entered the classroom and asked the girls to return home.
The girls, who were particularly happy to be back at school for the first time since August when Taliban they seized power in Afghanistan, packed their things and left their ranks weeping.
The international community has repeatedly warned that ensuring girls’ right to education is a key condition for negotiations on aid to Afghanistan and recognition of the Taliban regime.
UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons described the closure of girls’ schools as “worrying”.
The international community has repeatedly warned that ensuring girls’ right to education is a key condition for negotiations on aid to Afghanistan and recognition of the Taliban regime.
The Afghan Ministry of Education had earlier announced that classes in girls’ secondary schools would resume today, with the exception of those in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold where they would begin next month.
“We will not reopen the schools to the satisfaction of the international community or to gain recognition,” said Taliban spokesman Aziz Ahmad Rayan.
“Psychologically affected”
“Last year all the students were psychologically affected, we really did not want this to happen again,” one girl commented.
The elementary school students had returned to their classes two months after the Taliban seized power, while the boys went to school normally.
However, due to poverty and conflict in Afghanistan, students often miss much of the school year, with some finishing school around 20.
During their seven months in power, the Islamists have imposed many restrictions on women: they have barred them from many positions in the public sector, controlled the way they dress, and barred them from traveling alone outside their place of residence.
Islamists have also arrested and detained many women activists who have spoken out in support of women’s rights.
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