KABUL: The Taliban‘s Ministry of Education has issued a letter asking officials to open schools and educational centres for girls below sixth grade.
The Ministry will now allow girls of sixth grade and below to continue their studies in schools.
The move comes weeks after the Taliban government ruling in Afghanistan cracked down on women’s education, with the higher education ministry ordering an indefinite ban on university education for women in Afghanistan, drawing condemnation from the international community, including Muslim majority countries.
Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law since seizing control of the country in August 2021.
They banned girls from middle school and high school, restricted women from most employment, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women were also banned from parks and gyms and prevented from traveling without a male relative.
Human Rights Watch called the move “a shameful decision” that makes clear the Taliban’s lack of respect for “the fundamental rights of Afghans.”
Foreign governments, including the United States, had said that a change in policies on women’s education is needed before it can consider formally recognizing the Taliban-run administration, which is also subject to heavy sanctions.
The foreign ministers of the G7 group–Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union–had urged the Taliban to rescind the ban, warning that “gender persecution may amount to a crime against humanity.”
The ministers had warned that “Taliban policies designed to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries engage with the Taliban.”
Turkey, Qatar and Pakistan, all Muslim countries, had expressed their disappointment at the university ban and urged authorities to withdraw or reconsider their decision. Qatar had called on the “Afghan caretaker government” to review the ban in line with the teachings of Islam on women’s education.
However, minister of higher education in the Taliban government Nida Mohammad Nadim had defended the ban on women’s education stating that it was introduced to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam.
Nadim said that foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
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