Taliban re-open middle and high schools only for males

Ten days after the reopening of Afghanistan’s private universities, the Ministry of Education announced on Friday that “all-male teachers and students” in secondary schools would be returning to their institutions without making any mention of female teachers or students.

A 100% male school year: only Afghan high school students were allowed to go back to school on Saturday, a measure deplored by UNICEF, which urged the new Taliban regime not to “leave girls aside”.

Ten days after the reopening of the country’s private universities, the Ministry of Education announced on Friday that “all-male teachers and students” in secondary schools would return to their institutions without mentioning female teachers or students.

This vagueness risks fuelling even more the anxiety of a part of the Afghan population and the international community who fear to see the same scenario as during the first passage to the power of the fundamentalists between 1996 and 2001.