Taliban ban girl students from attending school beyond third grade as crackdown continues

In another curb on women's rights and freedom in Afghanistan, the Taliban have banned girls over 10 years of age from attending primary school classes up to third grade approving a slew of restrictions that impact women's education. The Taliban-ruled Ministry of Education has instructed the school principals and teachers to make an announcement in the Ghazni province that “any girl over 10 years of age is not allowed to study in primary schools”, according to reports.

In some schools, the local authorities of the “Ministry for Preaching and Guidance”, formerly the Women’s Affairs Ministry, were separating the girls and boys based on their gender and age, and female students above the third grade were asked to go home. The hardline Islamist regime did not provide any logical reasoning for preventing girls over 10 years of age from attending primary school classes. 

Last year, the Taliban-run higher education ministry in Afghanistan made a formal announcement about banning women and girls from universities until further notice, a move that impacted the education of Afghan females. Taliban justified the ban on university education saying that the women have to be accompanied by male relatives to the educational institutes, but despite the clear instructions, they have been violating the "laws." 

Afghan women chant slogans and hold placards during a protest against the Taliban in Kabul. Credit: AP

The minister for higher education in the Taliban's de facto government, Neda Mohammad, argued that the Afghan women were ignoring the Islamic instructions based on the Sharia law. They were not adhering to the appropriate moral dress and did not take their male relative along with them to public places in accordance with Islamic rules. Nadeem said that the Afghan women's behaviour was in breach of the country's Islamic moral code of conduct as they were dressed like they were "attending a wedding function". 

Taliban ban beauty salons in Afghanistan

Last week, the fundamentalist regime of the Taliban announced a ban on women's beauty salons in Afghanistan following a one-month deadline. Sadiq Akif Mahjer, the spokesman for the Taliban-run Virtue and Vice Ministry, said that the salons must adhere to the order, but he did not elaborate on whether the Taliban would resort to force against the salons if they do not comply. The ruling was slammed globally as an attempt to stifle women's rights as they had already been banned from education and employment.

In its explanation, the Taliban said that it decided to ban beauty salons as they offered expensive grooming services that are forbidden by Islam and caused economic hardship for the families of grooms during the wedding season. Dozens of beauticians and makeup artists gathered in Kabul and protested against the rule, arguing that it would render them unemployed. They were met with fire hoses, tasers, and resonating sounds of gunshots for their defiant movement against the regime. 

Taliban issued a letter that outlined the verbal order of ban from the supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. The document, which mentioned June 25 as the initial deadline, did not give any specific reasons for the ban. The ruling sparked widespread condemnation including from the United Nations which said in a statement that it was engaged with the authorities in Afghanistan to get the ban on beauty salons reversed. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he “supports the efforts by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has called on the de facto authorities to halt the edict closing beauty salons." UNAMA said that such restrictions on women’s rights will not only negatively impact the economy but also contradicts the support of women’s entrepreneurship.