Women in Afghanistan are allowed to continue studying at a university, but are separated from the men. They are also only taught by female teachers. If there are none, another solution will be sought, said new Taliban Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani. “We can have male teachers teach from behind a curtain or use technology.” Haqqani thinks everyone will agree to the decision. “We are Muslims and they will accept it.”
Female students are required to wear a headscarf. It is unclear whether the face must also be covered and whether there are also other dress codes.
The curriculum will also be adjusted. Haqqani wants a curriculum “that is in line with Islam, but can compete with other countries”. How this will work out in practice remains to be seen.
Previous period
During the Taliban’s first period in power, from 1996 to 2001, girls and women were not allowed to attend education or participate in public life. After the Taliban were ousted, the number of girls receiving primary education rose from nearly zero to 2.5 million, the UN education organization UNESCO said. The number of women who can read rose to 30 percent.
When the Taliban regained power last month, they promised that women would continue to have access to education and work. At the moment, women are not allowed to go to work, except in health care, because the security situation would not allow it.
The Taliban have renamed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs; it is now called Ministry of Virtue. That is the ministry that supervised the observance of Taliban law on the streets in the first Taliban period. Officials from this ministry punished women who were “immodestly” dressed or who were traveling without a male escort with corporal punishment.
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