The Pulse | Society | South Asia
Afghan women have been banned from highschool school rooms however with little advance discover will likely be allowed in the future to take commencement exams.
Afghan women will likely be allowed to take their highschool commencement exams this week, an official and paperwork from the Taliban authorities indicated Tuesday — although they’ve been banned from school rooms for the reason that former insurgents took over the nation final 12 months.
In response to two paperwork from the Taliban ministry of training, obtained by The Related Press, the choice applies to 31 out of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces the place the winter faculty break begins in late December.
Ehsanullah Kitab, head of the Kabul training division, mentioned the exams would happen on Wednesday. He offered no different particulars and it was not clear what number of teenage women would be capable of take the examination.
One of many paperwork, from the Kabul training division, mentioned the exams would final from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A second doc, signed by Habibullah Agha, the training minister who took workplace in September, mentioned the exams can be held in 31 Afghan provinces. The three excluded provinces — Kandahar, Helmand, and Nimroz — have a distinct timetable for the college 12 months and highschool commencement exams usually happen there later.
“That is ridiculous,” mentioned 18-year-old Najela from Kabul, giving solely her first identify for concern of reprisals. She would now be in twelfth grade and eligible for the examination. “We spent an entire 12 months below rigidity and stress and haven’t learn a single web page of our textbooks.”
“How can we probably take an examination after a 12 months and a half that the Taliban have saved faculty doorways closed?” she added.
The Taliban overran Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces had been within the closing weeks of their pullout from the nation after 20 years of conflict. Regardless of initially promising a extra reasonable rule and ladies’s and minority rights, they’ve restricted rights and freedoms and extensively applied their harsh interpretation of Islamic regulation, or Shariah.
They’ve banned women from center faculty and highschool, restricted girls from most employment, and ordered them to put on head-to-toe clothes in public. Ladies are additionally banned from parks, gyms, and funfairs.
Ladies haven’t been denied entry from universities below the Taliban and the implication of the newest growth is that Afghan women who acquire a highschool diploma after Wednesday’s examination would be capable of apply for universities.
A Kabul highschool principal mentioned she was knowledgeable that twelfth grade women can have simply in the future to take exams in 14 topics, with 10 questions from every topic. The principal, who spoke on situation of anonymity for concern of reprisals, mentioned most lady college students lacked textbooks.
“Giving an examination is meaningless,” she mentioned.
The scholars and their feminine academics will all need to put on the hijab, or headband, below the Taliban gown code for ladies, and cellphones are banned in the course of the examination. Ladies who can not attend or who fail Wednesday’s examination can be allowed to retake the take a look at in mid-March, after the winter trip.
The Taliban remedy of ladies and women in Afghanistan has come below heavy criticism. Earlier this month, a staff of U.N. specialists mentioned it might quantity to a criminal offense in opposition to humanity and must be investigated and prosecuted below worldwide regulation, an allegation rejected by the Taliban.