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Universities in Kabul wore a deserted look on the first day of the new session of the year on Monday as the Taliban&rsquo;s strict rules on dress code and segregation of male and female students have to be implemented in educational institutions.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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The Taliban have said that the rules would not be as stringent as those imposed in their earlier regime, when women could not venture out of their homes without a male escort and girls were barred from going to school.</p>
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This time around, the Islamist hardline group has allowed women to go for university classes if they wear an abaya, a head-to-toe robe, and a niqab which is a face veil. They also cannot be in the same class as men.</p>
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&quot;Our students don&#39;t accept this and we will have to close the university,&quot; an AFP report cited Noor Ali Rahmani, the director of Gharjistan University in Kabul as saying.</p>
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&quot;Our students wear the hijab, not the niqab,&quot; he added.</p>
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The Taliban education authority issued a long list of rules on Sunday which also state that women must only be taught by other women, or old men, and use a women-only entrance.</p>
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They also have to finish their lessons five minutes earlier than men to ensure that they do not meet outside.</p>
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For some women students, however, it was a relief that at least they would still be able to attend university.</p>
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Zuhra Bahman, who runs a scholarship programme for women in Afghanistan, said on social media she had spoken to some of the students.</p>
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&quot;They are happy to go back to university, albeit in hijab,&quot; she said.</p>
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<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/panjshir-fighters-say-they-are-entrenched-in-strategic-areas-and-war-with-taliban-will-go-on-112872.html">Panjshir fighters say they are entrenched in strategic areas and war with Taliban will go on</a></strong></p>
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