Taleban Again Bans Middle and High School Girls from Attending School

Increasing Severity of Women's Human Rights Violations

On August 23 last year, women covered head to toe in burkas were walking on the streets of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, where the Islamic militant group Taliban regained control of the government.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] The Taliban in Afghanistan has banned female students from attending middle and high schools in some areas where attendance had resumed.

According to foreign media including the Associated Press on the 10th (local time), citing local residents and social media, the Taliban authorities have closed some girls' schools in Paktia Province in the east, where female students had recently resumed attending school.

Earlier this month, five girls' schools?including four middle and high schools in Gardez, the capital of Paktia Province, and one girls' school in the Samkani area?opened for the first time since the Taliban regained power in August last year.

After regaining power, the Taliban allowed male students and lower-grade female students to attend school in sequence, but mostly banned middle and high school female students from attending, depriving them of educational opportunities.

In response, the Paktia Taliban provincial education department inquired with the central government, which issued a denial decision.

Dozens of students who were sent home after attending school that day marched in the streets and held protests.

Since regaining power, the Taliban has announced several conciliatory measures such as forming an inclusive government and respecting human rights to be recognized as a member of the international community, but many of these have not been properly upheld.

Last year, women protesting in Kabul, Afghanistan, were whipped.

Thus, the issue of the Taliban’s violation of women’s rights is becoming increasingly severe.

Currently, Afghan women cannot travel long distances without a male family guardian and must wear clothing that covers their entire face (burqa) when going out.

Although the Taliban promised several times to fully allow middle and high school female students to attend school, they reversed their position on the first day of the new semester on March 23.

At that time, the Taliban government’s education department announced that the attendance of middle and high school female students would be postponed until further notice just hours after school started.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.