The education ministry made no public announcement of the reopening of schools, several teachers and officials said
\n KABUL
\nAfghanistan\u2019s schools reopened for the new academic year Tuesday, but no classes were held as students were unaware of the start and hundreds of thousands of teenage girls remain barred from attending class.
\nAfghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are prohibited from going to secondary school.
\nTaliban authorities have imposed an austere interpretation of Islam since storming back to power in August 2021 after the withdrawal of the US-led foreign forces that backed the previous governments.
\nThe education ministry made no public announcement of the reopening of schools, several teachers and officials told media.
\n\u201cA letter issued by the minister of education was given to us by our principal to reopen the school today but, since no public announcement was made, no students came,\u201d said Mohammad Osman Atayi, a teacher at the Saidal Naseri Boys High School in Kabul.
\nMedia journalists toured seven schools in Kabul and saw only a few teachers and primary students arriving but no classes were held.
\nSchools also reopened in provinces including Herat, Kunduz, Ghazni and Badakhshan but no lessons were held there either, AFP correspondents reported.
\nLate on Tuesday, Education Minister Habibullah Agha confirmed in a statement that schools up to grade six \u201cwill currently be open for girls,\u201d effectively retaining a ban on high school for girls.
\nHundreds of thousands of teenage girls across the country remain barred from secondary school. \u201cThe Taliban have snatched everything away from us,\u201d said 15-year-old Sadaf Haidari, a resident of Kabul who should have started grade 11 this year. \u201cI am depressed and broken.\u201d
\nEighteen-year-old Deena Rahimi should have started grade 12 this year but is confined to her home while her brother attends class.
\n\u201cMy brother and I used to go to school together daily but now he goes alone,\u201d Rahimi told AFP.
\n\u201cI\u2019m just forced to watch him go to school while we are not allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Reverse discriminatory policies\u2019
\nThe ban on girls\u2019 secondary education came into effect in March last year, just hours after the education ministry reopened schools for both girls and boys.
\nTaliban leaders \u2014 who have also banned women from university education \u2014 have repeatedly claimed they will reopen secondary schools for girls once \u201cconditions\u201d have been met, from obtaining funding to remodelling the syllabus along Islamic lines.
\nThey made a similar assurance during their first stint in power between 1996 and 2001, but girls remained banned from high schools throughout the five-year rule.
\nThat regime was brought down by a US-led invasion following the 9\/11 attacks, and under successive foreign-backed governments women\u2019s rights to education and work were restored.
\nThe international community has made the right to education for women a key condition in negotiations over aid and recognition of the current Taliban government.
\nNo country has officially recognised the Taliban as Afghanistan\u2019s legitimate ruler.
\nAfghanistan under the Taliban government is the \u201cmost repressive country in the world\u201d for women\u2019s rights, the United Nations has said.
\nThe United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged the authorities on Tuesday to lift the ban on girls\u2019 education.
\n\u201cUNAMA reiterates its call to de facto authorities to reverse all discriminatory policies against women and girls,\u201d the mission said on Twitter.
\n\u201cThey not only impede the aspirations of half of the population but are causing great damage to Afghanistan.\u201d
\nWomen have been effectively squeezed out of public life, removed from most government jobs or paid a fraction of their former salary to stay at home.
\nThey are also barred from going to parks, fairs, gyms and public baths, and must cover up in public.
\nTuesday\u2019s start of the new academic year coincided with Nowruz, the Persian New Year, celebrated widely in Afghanistan before the Taliban returned to power but now considered \u201cillegal\u201d by the country\u2019s new rulers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The education ministry made no public announcement of the reopening of schools, several teachers and officials said KABUL Afghanistan\u2019s schools reopened for the new academic year Tuesday, but no classes were held as students were unaware of the start and hundreds of thousands of teenage girls remain barred from attending class. Afghanistan is the only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-321196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n