The commencement of the new academic year in Afghanistan unfolds amidst the reality that millions of female students above the sixth grade are denied the opportunity to attend school, with 910 days having passed since the closure of girls’ schools.
The Ministry of Education of the Taliban, on Wednesday, March 20th, announced the beginning of the new academic year through a statement, urging families to enrol their children in schools and educational centres. However, there was no mention of female students, and it has been nearly three years since Afghan girls have been deprived of education and learning.
Sonia Samadi, a tenth-grade student, shared with the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency that being away from school, studies, and her classmates for two and a half years has left her feeling hopeless about the future. She expressed her disappointment that the gates of schools are opening without the presence of girls. She emphasized that just as boys have the right to education, girls also possess this right. She had hoped that in the new year, they would be able to attend school, but their fate remains uncertain.
She stated, “The commencement of schools without the presence of girls is painful for me. Just as boys have the right to education, girls also deserve this right. I hoped that in the new year, we would be able to attend school, but our future is still uncertain.”
The initiation of schools without the presence of girls has heightened concerns among female students in various provinces of the country. Sima, a ninth-grade student in Ghor province, expressed, “Our ultimate hope and wish are for the gates of schools to reopen for us one day, allowing us to return to school and sit behind our desks, studying as we did in the past.”
Another girl, Marziya, residing in Farah province, is deeply saddened and worried by the fact that schools have commenced without the presence of girls this year. She lamented, “It pains me greatly to see my brother going to school while I, as a girl, have been unable to attend for two and a half years. I wish we were also allowed to go to school this year.”
Meanwhile, Rina Amiri, the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights, has stated that the continued deprivation of girls and women from education is distressing, as schools in Afghanistan are beginning without girls being allowed to attend.
Following August 2021, when the Republic system in Afghanistan collapsed, and the Taliban came to power for the second time, after 33 days of their rule, they decided to close the gates of schools to girls and prohibit girls above the sixth grade from attending schools.
- نویسنده : Afghanistan Women News Agency
- منبع خبر : Afghanistan Women News Agency
