The Taliban banned Afghan female students from taking university entrance exams on Saturday, a month after women’s higher education was banned in Afghanistan.
“It is worth noting that female students will not be able to enroll until further notice,” the interim Taliban government’s Ministry of Higher Education said in a letter addressed to private universities and higher education institutions, a text that EFE had access to.
Any “deviation” from the ban on women’s higher education “will be treated in accordance with the law,” according to the Taliban, who rule the country according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law and regularly practice corporal punishment and even public executions.
This clarification comes after the ban on women in universities was imposed in December, which was allowed, a measure that joined the ban on access to secondary education for female students since the Taliban came to power in August 2021.
Last month, women were also banned from working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), on the pretext that many female workers did not cover their heads.
The decision was condemned by the international community and led several NGOs to suspend their programs in Afghanistan.
Despite the promises of change they made when they came to power, the Taliban’s actions against Afghan women are increasingly reminiscent of the era of the first Taliban regime (1996-2001), when women were relegated to domestic chores , with no possibility to leave the house.
Source: DN
