‘Ban on girls’ education unjustifiable violation of human rights’

KABUL (Pajhwok): UN Secretary General António Guterres has once again called for the reopening of girls’ schools and allowing them access to education in Afghanistan.

Monday marks two years since the new government in Kabul banned girls from attending high school in Afghanistan, Guterres wrote on his X handle.

Meanwhile, some girls also urged the Islamic Emirate to put to an end their lack of motivation and despair and open the gates of school for them.

“This is an unjustifiable violation of human rights that inflicts long-lasting damage on the entire country. Girls belong in school. Let them back in,” he added.

As the ban on girls’ education turned two years old, the global organization said the Education Can’t Wait (EWC) has also called for immediate cancellation of the ban on girls’ education in the country.

Recently, a member of the Board of Religious Scholars of Britain said the Islamic Emirate authorities had not completely banned girls’ education, but had temporarily suspended ‘secular and liberal education’.

Sheikh Hamid Mahmood added that Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, told him that girls in Afghanistan still had alternative ways to study.

However, some girls also asked the caretaker government to open the gates of schools and universities for them.

Sadaf Siddiqi, a law and political science student in Kabul University, said that girls and women were half of the society and if they were not educated, half of the society would be illiterate.

Fareshta Mahbobi, a student of 11th grade in one of Kabul’s schools, said she had been idle at home due to the closure of schools and asked the government to end their lack of planning and hopelessness as soon as possible and open the doors of  schools for them.

Nearly 731 days have passed since girls were barred from going to high schools and nearly nine months since the gates of universities were closed to girls in the country.

Two years have passed since the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan, but the officials of the Islamic Emirate have always said that this ban is not permanent and they are working to solve it.

Recently, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, Acting Minister of Higher Education, said women would be given all Sharia rights, including education, and asked women not to be in a hurry in this regard.

sa/ma

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