March 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Taliban have announced that public universities in the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, and several cities in the country will reopen their doors on March 6 for the new academic year after the winter break, although they have stressed that only students will be able to attend classes. .
The Supreme Council for Higher Education has indicated that “the studies of students in public institutions of higher education will officially start on March 6 in the cold provinces.”
However, the statement, published by the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education on its account on the social network Twitter, makes no mention of the restart of classes for university students, amid the restrictions imposed by the Taliban.
On the other hand, the Afghan Ministry of Education has indicated that the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, has met during the day with the head of the portfolio, Habibulá Agha, to address the education situation in the country.
Thus, he has indicated that Otunbayeva has reported that the Afghan authorities have achieved “significant achievements” in education and has underlined the UN’s “unconditional” support for the educational system of the Central Asian country, without UNAMA having ruled on the matter.
The fundamentalist group announced in December 2022 its decision to veto the admission of women to public and private universities throughout the country, after which the Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Mohamad Khalid Hanafi, specified that the reopening of centers “depends to a large extent on the creation of a decent cultural and religious environment.”
The Taliban authorities have faced criticism for the closure of educational centers and the exclusion of female students from them, in the midst of a battery of discriminatory measures against women that keep them from their jobs and govern aspects of their daily lives. .