Abdul Baqi Haqqani expressed his views on academic education at a press conference last week: Doctoral and master's degrees are worthless, he said, the greatest of all, the leaders of the Taliban, have not studied at all, often not even a secondary one Graduation. For the new Afghan Minister of Education, the source of their intellectual greatness is their knowledge of the Koran. At the conference, Haqqani presented a detailed set of rules that also answered the question of whether women were even allowed to study under the new government. They are allowed to do so for the time being, but the rules to which they are subject disappoint the already weak hopes that the new Taliban would differ significantly from their predecessors.who banned women from schools and universities between 1996 and 2001.

Thomas Thiel

Editor in the features section.

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After the Taliban rule, the education system experienced its heyday with Western support, more and more universities grew out of the ground, and the proportion of women rose to 20 percent.

The new regulations do not turn back the clock entirely, but require women to wear the niqab, which covers the face except for a small area around the eyes.

In the seminars, the genders should be taught separately.

In order to avoid accidental encounters, the lessons are time shifted by five minutes.

In addition, special waiting rooms are to be set up for women.

The Taliban continue to regard women as sinful beings that must be hidden from the public.

Their radius of action at universities is likely to be correspondingly small.

Pro-Taliban march

Another regulation stipulates that women should only be taught by women and, where this is not possible, by "older professors of good character". This is a predetermined breaking point in the new regulation: it is common knowledge that there are far too few female teachers in Afghanistan. The Taliban can use this as an excuse to send female students home all the way as soon as international observation wanes.

Kambiz Ghawami of the World University Service holds the women's study permit for a window display. It serves to calm the international community, which is hoped for financial help, he tells the FAZ. According to the new regulations, the first private universities have reopened in order not to lose their licenses or to avoid claims for damages. At state universities, where salaries have not been paid for months, operations are still idle. If it starts up again, Ghawami says there will be no humanities there, only engineering and Koran studies. Haqqani has announced that it will remove any subject that contradicts Sharia law. Christian Hülshörster from the DAAD also maintains a higher education system based on the model of Saudi Arabia,where, up to the recent reforms of the Crown Prince, there was a strict gender segregation in the education sector, in Afghanistan it is conceivable.

At Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul there was a march of women on Saturday demonstrating for the Taliban rules. Whether they did this of their own free will remained unclear. They wore floor-length black robes and Taliban pennants in their hands. Only in a few did the head veil reveal the eyes. They looked strangely lost in the faceless black mass.