Women and girls staged a protest near the Taliban’s Ministry of Education in Kabul on Saturday, calling on the group to reopen girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan. The protesters chanted, “Education is our right—open the doors of girls’ schools!” as armed Taliban members looked on. The Taliban have previously broken up demonstrations and detained those involved, but this protest was allowed to continue.
The Taliban have been widely condemned for a last-minute U-turn last week ordering schools to close, just hours after teenage pupils began to arrive for the start of the new academic year. Since the Taliban took power, girls’ primary schools in most of the country, along with all boys’ schools, have remained open, but older girls have not been allowed back in the classroom. The Taliban’s Education Ministry said girls’ secondary schools would restart on Wednesday last week, but the decision was overruled by the group’s central leadership, who said they would remain closed until a “comprehensive” and “Islamic” plan had been drawn up.
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