The university ban is one of several restrictions imposed on women since the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021
\n Kabul
\nMale students have trickled back to their classes after universities reopened in Afghanistan following a winter break, but women remain barred by the ruling Taliban.
\nThe university ban is one of several restrictions imposed on women since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021 and has sparked global outrage.
\n\u201cThis is gender discrimination against girls because Islam allows us to pursue higher education. Nobody should stop us from learning.\u201d
\nThe Taliban government imposed the ban accusing female students of ignoring a strict dress code and a requirement to be accompanied by a male relative to and from campus.
\nMost universities had already introduced gender-segregated entrances and classrooms, as well as allowing women to be taught only by female professors or old men.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s painful to see that thousands of girls are deprived of education today,\u201d Mohammad Haseeb Habibzadah, a student of computer science at Herat University, told AFP news agency.
\n\u201cWe are trying to address this issue by talking to lecturers and other students so that there can be a way where boys and girls could study and progress together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Gender-based apartheid\u2019
\nEjatullah Nejati, an engineering student at Kabul University, Afghanistan\u2019s largest, said it was a fundamental right of women to study.
\n\u201cEven if they attend classes on separate days, it\u2019s not a problem. They have a right to education and that right should be given to them,\u201d Nejati said as he entered the university campus.
\nSeveral Taliban officials say the ban on women\u2019s education is temporary but, despite promises, they have failed to reopen secondary schools for girls, which have been closed for more than a year.
\nThey have wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure, from a lack of funds to the time needed to remodel the syllabus along Islamic lines.
\nThe reality, according to some Taliban officials, is that the religious scholars advising Afghanistan\u2019s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada are deeply sceptical of modern education for women, AFP said in its report.
\nTaliban authorities have effectively squeezed women out of public life since retaking power.
\nWomen have been removed from many government jobs or are paid a fraction of their former salary to stay at home. They are also barred from going to parks, fairs, gyms and public baths, and must cover up in public.
\nRights groups have condemned the restrictions, which the United Nations called \u201cgender-based apartheid\u201d.
\nAlso on Monday, rights group Amnesty International appealed to the UN Human Rights Council to address the \u201crelentless abuses\u201d by Taliban, including severe restrictions on women and freedom of speech.
\n\u201cThe human rights situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating rapidly, and the Taliban\u2019s relentless abuses continue every single day,\u201d said Agn\u00e8s Callamard, Amnesty\u2019s secretary general.
\n\u201cIt is clear that the Taliban are not willing nor able to investigate actions by their members that grossly violate the human rights of Afghanistan\u2019s population,\u201d she added.
\nThe international community has made the right to education for women a sticking point in negotiations over aid and recognition of the Taliban government.
\nNo country has so far officially recognised the Taliban as Afghanistan\u2019s legitimate rulers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The university ban is one of several restrictions imposed on women since the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021 Kabul Male students have trickled back to their classes after universities reopened in Afghanistan following a winter break, but women remain barred by the ruling Taliban. The university ban is one of several restrictions imposed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-317924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n