International
Taliban promises all Afghan girls will be in schools soon
The Taliban government has pledged that it will restart education for girls and women in Afghanistan by late March, the government’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in an interview on Sunday.
In what has been seen as the first-ever timeline for addressing a key demand of the international community, the Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers say they hope to be able to open all schools for girls across the country after late March.
Since the Taliban takeover in mid-August of 2021, girls in most of Afghanistan have not been allowed back to school beyond grade 7.
READ ALSO: Taliban outlaws shaving, trimming of beards, says it’s un-Islamic
In the interview, Mujahid, who is also the Taliban’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Information, said their “education departments are looking to open classrooms for all girls and women following the Afghan New Year, which starts on March 21.”
“Education for girls and women is a question of capacity,” Mujahid said in the interview.
He, however, insisted that girls and boys must be completely segregated in schools, adding that the biggest obstacle so far has been “finding or building enough dorms, or hostels, where girls could stay while going to school. The truth is that we do not hate education, especially education for girls and women.”
“In heavily populated areas, it is not enough to have separate classrooms for boys and girls — separate school buildings are needed,” he said.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
German Police bust alleged Nigerian scam dating ring
German authorities have arrested eleven individuals suspected of being members of a Nigerian mafia group involved in a large-scale dating...
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...