Women in Afghanistan can continue their studies at universities, including undergraduate level, but classrooms will be gender-segregated and Islamic dress will be mandatory, the new Taliban government’s higher education minister said on Sunday.
A few days after the new ruler of Afghanistan formed an all-male government, Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani explained the new policy at a press conference.
On Saturday, the Taliban hoisted a flag over the presidential palace to mark the beginning of the new government’s work.
The world has been paying close attention to the degree to which the Taliban first came to power in the late 1990s. In that era, girls and women were deprived of education and excluded from public life.
The Taliban claimed they have changed, including attitudes towards women. However, women are prohibited from participating in sports, and the Taliban have used violence against female protesters demanding equal rights in recent days.
Haqqani said the Taliban did not want to turn the clock back 20 years. “We’ll begin building on where we stand today,” he said.
However, female university students will face restrictions, including a mandatory dress code. Haqqani said the headscarf will be compulsory but did not point whether this means just a headscarf or a mandatory face mask.
He declared that gender segregation will also be enforced. “We will not allow co-education,” he said.
In elementary and high schools, even before the Taliban came to power, boys and girls attended classes separately. In high school, girls must wear knee-length tunics and white headscarves. Jeans, cosmetics and jewellery were not allowed.
