With a message to private universities, the Taliban on Saturday doubled down on their ban on women’s education, As per the message Afghan women are barred from taking university entry exams.
The note comes despite weeks of condemnation and lobbying by the international community for a reversal on measures restricting women’s freedoms, including two back-to-back visits this month by several senior UN officials. It also bodes ill for hopes that the Taliban could take steps to reverse their edicts anytime soon.
The Taliban barred women from private and public universities last month. The higher education minister in the Taliban-run government, Nida Mohammed Nadim, has maintained that the ban is necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities — and because he believes some subjects being taught violate Islamic principles.
The Taliban have made similar promises about middle school and high school access for girls, saying classes would resume for them once “technical issues” around uniforms and transport were sorted out. But girls remain shut out of classrooms beyond sixth grade.
Higher Education Ministry spokesman Ziaullah Hashmi said Saturday that a letter reminding private universities not to allow women to take entrance exams was sent out. He gave no further details.
A copy of the letter, shared with The Associated Press, warned that women could not take the “entry test for bachelor, master and doctorate levels” and that if any university disobeys the edict, “legal action will be taken against the violator.” The letter was signed by Mohammad Salim Afghan, the government official overseeing student affairs at private universities.
Entrance exams start on Sunday in some provinces while elsewhere in Afghanistan, they begin February 27. Universities across Afghanistan follow a different term timetable, due to seasonal differences.
Mohammed Karim Nasari, spokesman for the private universities union, said last month that dozens of private universities risk closure because of the ban.
Afghanistan has 140 private universities across 24 provinces, with around 200,000 students. Out of those, some 60,000 to 70,000 are women. The universities employ about 25,000 people.