KABUL (Pajhwok): Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) supreme leader Gubuddin Hekmatyar has said creating proper environment for girls’ education is the government’s responsibility and inappropriate environment is no justification for banning their education.
The Higher Education Ministry suspended women’s higher education on Dec 20 until further notice, asking all private and government universities to implement the Cabinet’s decision with immediate effect.
Hekmatyar during Friday’s sermon said the ban on girls’ education triggered severe domestic and international backlash.
He said people were expecting that high schools for girls would be reopened and they did not expect a ban on girls’ university studies.
He added: “This decision will have harmful and irreparable consequences for both the youth and the country. This decision kills the talent of the youth”.
He said it was one of the important responsibilities of the leaders of an Islamic society to educate the young generation and the government remove obstacles in this way and provide all sorts of facilities for their education.
Citing inappropriate conditions could not justify the ban instead the doors of mosques, seminaries and other educational institutions should be kept open, Hekmatyar said.
The ban on girls’ higher education has been widely condemned by the United Nations (UN), the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and many countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
Some officials of the current government and politicians have also expressed their concern and condemned the ban in their social media massages.
But acting Higher Education Minister Nida Mohammad Nadeem during an interview with the national television channel RTA defended his decision by providing some reasons.
He said the girls violated the Islamic hijab and that the ban was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believed some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam.
aw/ma
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