Taliban orders girls schools remain closed, hours after opening

The Taliban administration on Wednesday, has announced that girls’ high schools will be closed, hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven months.

Teachers and students from three high schools around the capital Kabul said, girls had returned in excitement to campuses on Wednesday, but were ordered to go home. They said many students left in tears.

“We all got disappointed and we all became totally hopeless when the principal told us,” said a student.

The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, they banned female education and most employment.

The international community has made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban administration, which took over the country in August as foreign forces withdrew.

We inform all girls high schools and those schools that are having female students above class six that they are off until the next order,” said the notice.

The Taliban is seeking to run the country according to its interpretation of Islamic law while at the same time accessing billions of dollars in aid that it desperately needs to stave off widespread poverty and hunger.

READ ALSO: Afghan girls to return to secondary schools soon – Taliban

Reuters