From VOA:
“Taliban: Afghan Public
Universities to Begin Reopening Wednesday”
The Taliban announced Sunday they
would start reopening all public universities in Afghanistan from this week,
more than five months after the Islamist group retook control of the war-torn
country. Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the minister for higher education, said by video
that students in Afghan provinces with a warm climate would return to classes
on Wednesday, while universities in the colder areas, including Kabul, will
reopen February 26. Haqqani did not elaborate, but in his earlier statements
the minister had announced that gender segregation would be enforced in public
universities in line with Sharia or Islamic law before reopening them. He also
said at the time that hijabs would be mandatory for female students. Sunday’s
announcement comes as the Taliban face pressure from the international
community to respect the human rights of all Afghans, especially those of
women, and allow all girls to receive an education.
United Nations Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres renewed his call for the Taliban earlier on Sunday to uphold
pledges to respect human rights. “In Afghanistan, women & girls are once
again being denied their rights to education, employment & equal justice,”
Guterres tweeted on Sunday. “To demonstrate a real commitment to be a part of
the global community, the Taliban must recognize & uphold the basic human
rights that belong to every girl & woman.” In mid-September, the Taliban
allowed female students to resume classes in some 150 private universities
under a strictly gender-segregated classroom system.
Afghan public and private
universities were co-educational before the Taliban takeover, with males and
females studying side by side, and women didn’t have to abide by a dress code.
In elementary and high schools, however, girls and boys were taught separately
until the Islamist group regained power last August. “Co-education is in
conflict with the principles of Islam and with national values and it is
against the traditions of Afghans as well,” Haqqani said in a September news
conference in Kabul. While the Taliban’s male-only caretaker government opened
secondary schools for boys in early September, most girls across Afghanistan
are still waiting for official permission to continue their education. The
Taliban have pledged that all girls will be allowed to go back to the classroom
in March when the new school year begins in the country. Leaders of the ruling
Islamist group have repeatedly rejected as false propaganda that they oppose
education for women, saying financial constraints and a lack of an “Islamic
environment” in educational institutions were preventing them from letting
women resume their studies.
No country has yet recognized the
Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. The global community has been
watching closely to see whether the Islamist group might rule the country
differently from its first time in power in the late 1990s, when girls were
banned from attending schools and women from leaving home unless accompanied by
a close male relative.
^ This is another example of why
no country should officially recognize the Taliban. They care more about
discriminating against Women and Girls rather than feeding or giving basic
things to the Citizens under their control. Until they actively show the world
that they have changed in the past 20 years then no nation should help the
Taliban. ^
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