End of co-education in private universities in Afghanistan. Women registered in these establishments will also have to leave the class five minutes before the students and wait in waiting rooms until the latter have left the premises, specifies a decree dated Saturday and published by the Ministry of Higher Education. . They will also be required to wear a black abaya, a wide veil covering the body and a niqab that covers the face and reveals the eyes.
The universities will be required to “recruit female teachers for students”, or attempt to recruit “older teachers” whose morality has been scrutinized, can we still read in this decree.
“It’s going to be complicated from a practical point of view”
When the Taliban first came to power, between 1996 and 2001, the single sex rule had prevented almost all women from studying. Wearing the burqa, a long veil completely covering the head and body, with a wire mesh covering the eyes, was then compulsory.
Regarding single-sex classes, “it will be complicated from a practical point of view, we do not have enough teachers or enough classrooms to separate the girls” from the boys, underlines a university professor, who requested anonymity. “But the fact that they allow girls to go to school and go to university is in itself an important and positive step,” he adds. Before the Taliban returned, female Afghan students could attend classes in mixed classes and attend seminars given by men.