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In July, the Taliban announced a meeting of selected clerics to decide the fate of the education ban. But only two clerics came to support the girls’ education. Since then, the Taliban have made no progress on whether they are willing to compromise
“At first, we hoped that the school would reopen, but as time passed, we realized that, no, they did something else. They only issued anti-women verdicts after every day,” said Nazhand. “I don’t think they are willing to open schools again, the Taliban have no problem with girls’ schools, but they want to exploit them politically. They want to continue their rule in society by banning women’s schools. It is in their interest to impose restrictions on women because they can’t do it for boys.”
After the US military intervention in Afghanistan in late 2001 that ousted the Taliban from power, the war-torn country witnessed a series of socioeconomic reforms and reconstruction programs. The post-Taliban constitution, ratified in 2004, expanded women’s rights to school, vote, work, serve in civil institutions, and protest. In 2009, the first woman became president in the country’s history.
But four decades of war and hostility have wreaked havoc on Afghanistan’s basic infrastructure, including the country’s educational assets.
Even before the Taliban seized power on August 15 last year, a UNICEF report found that Afghanistan was struggling with more than 4.2 million children out of school, 60% of them girls. Although the potential costs of not educating men and women are high in terms of lost earnings, not educating girls is particularly expensive because of the relationship between educational achievement and students delaying marriage and having children, participating in the workforce, making choices about the future self. , and invest more in the health and education of their children as they age. The analysis shows that Afghanistan will not be able to recover the GDP lost during the transition and reach its true potential productivity without fulfilling the rights of girls to access and complete secondary school education. UNICEF also estimates that if a group of 3 million girls can now complete secondary education and participate in the job market, it will contribute at least $5.4 billion to the Afghan economy.
The Amnesty International report also said that the Taliban prevented women in Afghanistan from working.
“Most female government employees were told to stay at home, except for those working in certain sectors such as health and education,” the report said. “In the private sector, many women have been fired from high positions. The Taliban’s policies seem to only allow women who cannot be replaced by men to keep working. Women who continue to work told Amnesty International that they find it difficult to face the Taliban’s restrictions on clothing and behavior, such as requirements for female doctors not to treat male patients or interact with male colleagues.
“Ten years ago, when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the first thing they did was ban women’s access to education,” Nazhand said. “The Taliban keep many women in isolation and as an illiterate population; the result is a society paralyzed and backward. We do not forget that the Taliban still suffer from the radical and repressive mindset that they would have had 20 years ago. We must not remain as women as they were 20 years ago , and we will not be silent.
Security threats and acts of terrorism are also a major concern of students in Afghanistan. In late October, a suicide bomber attacked a classroom filled with more than 500 students in western Kabul, killing at least 54 school graduates – among them 54 girls. The attack was the second deadly attack on an educational center in the country since the Taliban seized power.
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