Afghanistan: the Taliban order to close colleges and high schools to girls

Europe 1 with AFP 2:39 p.m., March 23, 2022

"Yes it's true," Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP without further comment, confirming reports that the girls had been asked to return home.

The Taliban ordered the closure of middle and high schools for girls in Afghanistan on Wednesday, just hours after they reopened, a U-turn that caused confusion and disappointment among students.

The Taliban's U-turn

No Taliban official was immediately available to explain the reason for this decision.

“We have no right to comment,” simply replied the spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Ahmad Aziz Rayan.

An AFP-TV crew was filming a lesson in a class at Zarghona High School for Girls in the capital Kabul on Wednesday morning when a teacher entered and ordered the students to go home.

"It's very painful to see your students cry"

The latter, who were rejoicing in their return to school for the first time since the Islamic fundamentalists took power last August, closed their books, packed their things, and left the classroom in tears.

"I saw my students cry and hesitate to leave class. It's very painful to see your students cry," said Palwasha, a teacher at the Omara Khan girls' school, also in the capital. .

>> READ ALSO

- Afghanistan: the Taliban prohibit women from traveling unaccompanied

UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons has described reports of school closures as "worrying".

"If that's true, what could be the reason?" she asked on twitter.

The international community has made the right to education for all a stumbling block in negotiations on aid and recognition of the fundamentalist Islamist regime.

Several countries and organizations have proposed paying teachers.

The resumption of classes for girls yet announced

The Ministry of Education had however announced the resumption of classes on Wednesday for girls in several provinces, except those of Kandahar (South), cradle of the Taliban, which was to reopen next month.

"We are not reopening schools to please the international community, nor to gain recognition from the world," spokesman Aziz Ahmad Rayan told AFP.

“We do this as part of our responsibility to provide education and educational facilities for our students,” he added.

The Taliban had insisted they wanted to take the time to ensure that girls aged 12 to 19 would be kept separate from boys, and that schools would operate according to Islamic principles.

Before the Taliban's about-face, girls interviewed by AFP when schools opened said they were "happy" to return to class and even thanked the Taliban.

Girls deprived of school again

Around 7 a.m., several hundred students rushed to the entrance of the Zarghona high school for girls, one of the largest establishments of this type in the capital.

Dressed in black or colored abayas -- a large garment covering the whole body -- or long coats, with an often white scarf covering their head, the lower part of the face hidden by a sanitary mask, the adolescent girls crossed the large blue door of the high school.

"When I arrived, I saw that the doors of the school were open and that all the students were coming, that made me very happy, and then I came to greet my teachers", rejoices with the AFP Sadaf, a 16-year-old student in this high school.

A broken hope

"We thought that we might not have any progress for our future. For the past eight months, we have been at home and we have tried to study our books. I hope that with the Islamic Emirate (name of the Taliban regime), there may be more development", adds the teenager who wants to become a doctor.

Schools in other provinces had also opened in the morning, such as in Panchir (Northeast), Kunduz (North) or Herat (Southwest), before closing their doors.

"Today is a very beautiful day," enthused Marjan, a first-year student at Gawharshad High School in Herat.

"Psychologically affected"

"Last year all the students were affected psychologically, we really don't want that to happen again," adds the young girl.

This return of girls to secondary school followed that of boys, and girls but only in primary school, who had been authorized to resume classes two months after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban last August.

In seven months of rule, the Taliban have imposed a multitude of restrictions on women.

They are barred from many government jobs, restricted in how they dress, and banned from traveling alone outside their towns.

The Islamists also arrested and detained several women activists who demonstrated for women's rights.