Aaj Logo

Published 18 Sep, 2021 01:55pm

Malala turns to Twitter to slam Taliban's ban on school girls' education

Malala Yousufzai took to Twitter Friday to criticize the Taliban's decision to resume only boys secondary education, referring to a The Guardian story.

"This is shameful and not at all new. In the past, the Taliban imposed a temporary ban on girls’ education that lasted five years. They are testing our resolve," said the education activist in her tweet.

She demanded that leaders stand up for Afghan girls’ right to go to school.

Afghan schools were set to open for boys Saturday, the new Taliban ministry of education said in a statement. However, the official release gave no indication of when girls might be able to go back to their classes.

The statement said state and private schools at primary and secondary level as well as official madrasas would open Saturday.

"All teachers and male students should attend school," the statement said. However, it did not mention girls at all.

More than a month after the Taliban seized the capital Kabul, most educational institutions have remained closed as the group has struggled to reopen the economy and restore normal life in the cities.

At some of the schools that have managed to operate, girls up to the sixth grade have attended, and women students have gone to university classes. But high schools for girls have been closed.

Taliban officials have said they will not replicate the fundamentalist policies of the previous Taliban government, which banned girls' education, and they have promised that girls will be able to study so long as they do so in segregated classrooms.

While the Taliban did not order schools to close after their takeover, the movement has said the security situation meant that many activities for women and girls were not yet possible.

Read Comments