Kabul: Girls were issued to return to high school in Afghanistan on Saturday, after the ruler of the new Taliban in the country only ordered boys and men to the classroom.
The Hardline Islamic group overthrew the US-backed government last month, promising softer regulations than their repressive government in the 1990s, when women were mostly prohibited from education and work.
But dictates from the Ministry of Education are the final steps of the new government to threaten women’s rights.
“All male teachers and students must attend their educational institutions,” said a statement ahead of the class continuing on Saturday.
The statement, which was released at the end of Friday, did not mention the teacher of women or girls.
Middle school, with students usually between the ages of 13 and 18 years, is often separated by sex in Afghanistan.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, they have faced closure over and over and have been closed since the Taliban seized power.
Because US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban in 2001, significant progress had been made in the education of girls, with a number of schools three times and female literacy almost doubled to 30 percent – however, the changes were mostly limited to cities.
The United Nations said “very worried” for the future of girls’ schools in Afghanistan.
“It is very important that all girls, including older girls, are able to continue their education without further delay.
For this reason, we need female teachers to continue teaching,” UNICEF UN children’s agents said.
Primary schools have been reopened, with boys and women mostly attended separate classes and some women’s teachers returned to work.
The new regime has also allowed women to go to private universities, although with tough limits on their clothes and movements.
In a further sign that the Taliban approach to women and girls does not soften, they seem to have closed the ministry of female government and replaced it with a well-known department for upholding strict religious doctrine during their first government.
In Kabul on Friday, workers seem to increase signs for services for the promotion of virtues and prevention of representatives at the old women’s affairs building in the capital.
The video posted to social media shows female workers from the ministry protesting outside after losing their jobs.
No officials from the Taliban who responded to a comment request.
Although still marginalized, Afghan women have struggled to and obtain basic rights in the past 20 years, becoming a member of parliament, judges, pilots and police officers.
Hundreds of thousands have entered the workforce – a must in some cases because many women widows or now support an invalid husband as a result of decades of conflict.
The Taliban showed a little tendency to respect those rights – no women were included in the government and many had been stopped from returning to work.
Meanwhile, the top of the United States general claimed to have made a “mistake” when launching a drone strike against Islamic guerrillas suspected of being in Kabul last month, instead of killing 10 civilians, including children.
The strike during the last days of US withdrawals was intended to target alleged operations that were believed by US intelligence with “reasonable certainty” planned to attack Kabul Airport, said the Kenneth McKenzie Central Command Commander.
“The strike was a tragic mistake,” McKenzie told reporters after the investigation.
McKenzie said the government was looking at how compensation payments could be made to their families killed.
“I offered the deepest condolences to their family members who were killed,” US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
The UN Security Council voted on Friday to extend the UN political mission in Afghanistan for six months, focusing on development problems but not peace.