Taliban opens schools for boys, but silent on girls resuming classes

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Boys can start attending school again in Afghanistan from Saturday but there was no mention of when girls can resume classes in a statement issued by the new Taliban ministry of education.</p>
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After the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, most educational institutions have remained shut in the country.</p>
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At some of the schools that have managed to operate, girls up to the sixth grade have attended, and women students have gone to university classes. But high schools for girls have been closed.</p>
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The Taliban statement said state and private schools at primary and secondary level as well as official madrasa religious schools would be open from Saturday.</p>
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"All teachers and male students should attend school," it added.</p>
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Although the Taliban has not issued a formal order to shut schools after they came to power, The Islamist extremists have said that under the present security situation, many activities for women and girls were not possible.</p>
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The Taliban spokesmen have indicated that this said they will not replicate the fundamentalist policies of the previous Taliban government, which banned girls' education, and they have promised that girls will be able to study so long as they do so in segregated classrooms.</p>
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During the earlier Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were barred from work. They were also not permitted to step out of their homes unless they were accompanied by a male family member.</p>
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This time around some Taliban spokespersons have been saying that women will be allowed to pursue higher studies and the law would be more accommodative. However, these are turning out to be a mere façade as the Taliban desperately seeks world aid in a collapsing economy. Their actions on the ground deny women basic human rights.</p>
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In brazen move to crush women’s rights, the Taliban regime on Friday replaced signs for the country's Ministry for Women in Kabul with those for "Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" which is expected to give a bigger role the Islamist militants moral police.</p>