Afghanistan schools reopen, pressure builds on Taliban to allow all girls to attend

Afghanistan’s schools reopened on Tuesday for the new academic year, but no classes were held as students were unaware of the development.

Hundreds of thousands of teenage girls remain barred from attending class even as the UN children’s agency renewed calls for teenage girls to be able to rejoin the classroom, reported Reuters.

The Education ministry issued a letter confirming the official start of the school year after the winter break this week. However, no students came since the ministry made no public announcement of the reopening of schools.

“As the new school year in Afghanistan begins, we rejoice in the millions of boys and girls returning to primary school classrooms. Yet, we are deeply disappointed not to see adolescent girls going back to their classrooms as well,” said Fran Equiza, Unicef’s Afghanistan representative, in a tweet.

A year ago, after signalling that they would open schools for all students, Taliban authorities made a U-turn, leaving many girls who had turned up to their high school classes in tears. The move also sparked global condemnation.

The letter by the ministry also made no mention of any change in access for girls. The head of the UN children’s agency in Afghanistan said authorities needed to open schools to all students so they could resume socialisation and building skills as well as academic learning.

“A letter issued by the minister of education was given to us by our principal to reopen the school today but, since no public announcement was made, no students came,” said Mohammad Osman Atayi, a teacher at the Saidal Naseri Boys High School in Kabul.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are prohibited from going to secondary school.

Taliban authorities have imposed an austere interpretation of Islam since storming back to power in August 2021 after the withdrawal of the US-led foreign forces that backed the previous governments, AFP reported.

Schools also reopened in provinces including Herat, Kunduz, Ghazni and Badakhshan but no lessons were held there either, AFP report added.

Late on Tuesday, Education Minister Habibullah Agha confirmed in a statement that schools up to grade six “will currently be open for girls,” effectively retaining a ban on high school for girls.

Hundreds of thousands of teenage girls across the country remain barred from secondary schools.

The ban on girls’ secondary education was imposed in March 2022, just hours after the education ministry reopened schools for both girls and boys.

Taliban leaders, who have also banned women from university education, have repeatedly claimed they will reopen secondary schools for girls once “conditions” have been met, from obtaining funding to remodelling the syllabus along Islamic lines.

Women have been effectively squeezed out of public life, removed from most government jobs or paid a fraction of their former salary to stay at home.

They are also barred from going to parks, fairs, gyms and public baths, and must cover up in public in Afghanistan.