Dozens of girls protest in eastern Afghanistan over closure of girls’ schools

Sep. 10 () –

Dozens of girls have demonstrated this Saturday in the Afghan province of Paktia (east) to protest the closure of their schools, amid the Taliban’s refusal to reopen secondary schools for female students since coming to power.

The protest has taken place days after several schools in the province reopened their doors, despite the fact that the authorities had not issued an official order to do so.

In fact, the authorities rejected the decision, taken by tribal leaders, and ordered the re-closure of the centers, while Taliban spokesman and Deputy Information Minister Zabihullah Mujahid said that what happened would be investigated.

In this regard, Muyahid stressed that only the Afghan Ministry of Education has the competence to take action on this point, which has provoked the protest, according to videos published by the Afghan television channel Tolo TV.

The Taliban announced in late May the creation of a committee to address the possible reopening of classes for female students in secondary and higher grades, following international criticism of the continued closure of these classrooms since their return to power following the flight from Kabul of the then president, Ashraf Ghani, in the face of his military advance towards the capital, in August 2021.

The group, which has installed a government marked by a lack of women and representatives of other political groups, has faced criticism over the closure of educational centers and the exclusion of female students from them, amid a battery of discriminatory measures against women that keep them away from their jobs and govern aspects of their daily lives.