Status: 01/28/2023 9:18 p.m
After the official university ban, the next step is now to prevent women in Afghanistan from studying: The Taliban have instructed universities to exclude women from the entrance exams.
The Ministry of Higher Education in Afghanistan has issued a letter instructing private and public universities not to admit women to the entrance exams for the coming academic year. This was reported by the Afghan news channel Tolonews. Officials at the Ministry of Higher Education confirmed this.
The Taliban are dampening hopes that the university ban on women imposed in December could be lifted again. There were protests in the country. Many other countries sharply condemned the ban – including both Western and Muslim countries. UN Secretary-General António Guterres had also called on the Taliban to lift the ban.
Women’s rights severely restricted
Since the Islamists took power again in Afghanistan in August 2021, they have massively restricted the rights of women in particular – especially in the field of education. First, they banned girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. The Taliban justified the fact that women are no longer allowed to go to university with the fact that female students often do not veil themselves properly and that men and women are taught together.