Women’s schools throughout Afghanistan will hopefully reopen at the end of March, a senior Taliban leader told the Associated Press, offering the first timeline to resume high school for girls since the group propagated in mid-August.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Government and Deputy Minister of Culture and Information, said the Department of Education Group would open a classroom for all girls and women in the New Year Afghanistan, which began on March 21.
Although the Taliban did not officially ban the education of girls, the group fighters have closed middle school women and hated women from state universities in several parts of the country.
The girls in most Afghanistan have not been allowed to return to schools outside the 7th grade since the Taliban took over, and reversed which had become one of the main demands of the activists of the rights of women and the international community for months.
Education for girls and women “is a question about capacity,” Mujahid said in an interview. “We try to solve this problem by the coming year,” so that schools and universities can open, he added.
The international community, reluctant to officially recognize the administration managed by the Taliban, is alert that the group can impose hard steps similar to the previous rules 20 years ago. At that time, women were banned from education, work and public life.
“We are not against education,” Mujahid emphasized, spoke in the Ministry of Culture and information in Kabul.
“In many provinces, higher classes (girls’ schools) are open, but in some places where it is closed, the reason is the economic crisis and framework, we need to do in crowded areas. And for that we need to build. New procedure, “he said.
Anzorat Middle School students, who only give his first name, reveal doubts.
“I don’t think they will reopen the school of girls because they have said so many things but haven’t followed up. If they really open school again it will be the best for girls,” he said.
“From the Taliban perspective, education for girls is a crime, if not like this, they will not forbid them from school,” said 19-year-old to Al Jazeera.
Daughters and boys must be fully separated in schools, Mujahid said, adding that the biggest obstacle has so far found or built a sufficient hostel, or hostel, where girls can go to school.
In a heavy population, it is not enough to have separate classrooms for boys and girls – a separate school building is needed, he said.
“We do not lack labor or human resources, we need economic cooperation for the people of Afghanistan, we need cooperation in trade, we need to build good diplomatic relations with other countries,” he said, adding that Afghanistan needs humanitarian assistance.
In the capital, Kabul, a private and secondary university continues to operate without interruption. Most small and class are always separated.
Starting the school girl is a good thing, [but] they must be firm on their promises. These words should not only be in order to take their attitude, “said the female rights activist Kabul Fatima Rae told Al Jazeera.
Taliban “don’t like to see young girls at all”, he said.
“Great obstacles for girls [in Afghanistan] are that the Taliban say they just have to leave home with a Mahram [male guard],” he told Al Jazeera, explaining that this is a challenge, many girls must be overcome when it comes to learning and works, and even basic freedom like movement.
In a direction issued last month, the Taliban authorities said women who tried to travel remotely should not be allowed in road transportation unless they were accompanied by close relatives of men. The ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of representatives also asked the vehicle owner to reject the vehicle to women who did not wear a headscarf.