‘Why can’t we study?’ – Afghan girls still barred from school

‘Why can’t we study?’ – Afghan girls still barred from school

Afghan teenager Amena saw dozens of classmates killed when her girls’ school was targeted by an Islamic State bomb attack in May, but she was determined to continue her education. Now, like most secondary school girls in the country, she is banned from lessons altogether after the Taleban’s hardline government excluded them from returning to class one month ago. “I wanted to study, see my friends and have a bright future, but now I am not allowed,” 16-year-old Amena told AFP at her home in western Kabul. “This situation makes me feel awful. Since the Taleban arrived, I am very sad and angry.”

On September 18, Afghanistan’s new Islamist rulers ordered male teachers and boys aged 13 and over back to secondary schools, picking up an academic year already cut short by violence and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there was no mention of women teachers or girl pupils. The Taleban later said older girls can return to secondary schools, which were already mostly split by gender, but only once security and stricter segregation under their interpretation of Islamic law could be ensured.

Reports have emerged of girls going back to a few high schools-such as in Kunduz province where the Taleban promoted