Taliban Bans Mixed Classes, Permits Women To Study At Universities

The Taliban announced earlier this month that women could still study at university if they wore an abaya robe and niqab covering most of the face…

Afghan women will be allowed to attend university as long as they study separately from men, the Taliban’s new higher education minister said Sunday.

Women’s rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, though since returning to power last month the hardline Islamists have claimed they will implement a less extreme rule.

But speaking to reporters about the new regime’s plans for the country’s education, Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani was unapologetic about bringing an end to mixed sex classes.

“We have no problems in ending the mixed-education system,” he said. “The people are Muslims and they will accept it.”

The Taliban announced earlier this month that women could still study at university if they wore an abaya robe and niqab covering most of the face, with classes segregated by sex — or at least divided by a curtain.

Haqqani said that Afghanistan’s education system had changed greatly since the Taliban’s last time in power, when women were effectively barred from schools and universities.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Taliban Reportedly Carrying Out House To House Executions

Yinka Akanbi

Yinka is an aesthete and a cosmopolite.