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Taliban reopen universities for Afghan women in six provinces
Taliban on Wednesday said they had reopened state universities for female students in six of the 34 Afghan Provinces, a step marking the main concession to the international demands of the country.
Because they swept power in mid-August, the international community had witnessed to see whether the Taliban would impose the same hard steps as in the 1990s their Afghanistan, including banning women from education and public life.
The Taliban has imposed several restrictions, many of them in women, because their takeover – women have been banned from many jobs outside the health and teaching sectors, and girls cannot go to school after sixth grade. The Taliban demands that women wear a headscarf but have stopped forcing Burqa, head-to cover which must be under their previous government.
The Ministry of Culture and Information Taliban said on Wednesday that state universities in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kandahar are now open to women in what is described as a staggering process that is expected to see all students – men and women – finally return to the university.
Then on that day, a Taliban spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, Ahmad Taqqi, said the state university was also reopened Wednesday for women in four more provinces – Helmand, Farah, Nimroz, and Laghman.
The six provinces have a warmer climate than the rest of Afghanistan where the winter is very cold, which the Taliban say is the reason they are the first to reopen. Men will attend classes in the morning and women in the afternoon, align with a gender separate system under the Taliban.
Earlier this week, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Minister of Education designated by the Taliban, said that the state universities elsewhere in Afghanistan, including Kabul University, will be reopened for men and women on February 26.
All instructors and officials are advised to concentrate on their responsibilities and provide the facilities needed for students, “Haqqani said in video clips recorded on Sunday.
The UN mission in Afghanistan welcomed the announcement, called it “important for Afghanistan” in Tuesday’s tweet.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Culture and Information appointed by the Taliban, Khairullah Khairkhwa, visited Kandahar University and said that “modern education and Islam can simultaneously lead a country into prosperity.”
Since their takeover, the Taliban came under a great fire to deny the education of women and women. The reopening of state universities will be their first concession. The Taliban also promised that all girls would return to school at the end of March at the beginning of the New Year of Afghanistan.
