SW News: In a disturbing move, local Taliban leaders in various Afghan districts have lately enacted a series of restrictive policies aimed against female education. Based on reports, these authorities have now gone so far as to restrict females above the age of 10 from attending elementary school sessions.
In Ghazni province, the Taliban-ruled Ministry of Education conducted meetings with school principals and short-term training courses, during which they explicitly stated that females beyond the age of 10 are not permitted to attend basic schools.
Previously, the Taliban let girls attend school until the sixth grade. But now, girls beyond the third grade are sent home, and girls over the age of ten are not allowed on school grounds.
Meanwhile, the group prohibited females from secondary school last year, reopening only boys' high schools, and in December, they broadened the prohibition to include college and university-bound women, preventing hundreds from enrolling.
Most areas of Afghan public and professional life remain closed to women, restricting their mobility and progress in Afghan society.
Women were prevented from accessing NGOs and international organizations during the Taliban, and they were also forbidden from using cabs without a burqa and a male companion.
The United Nations has denounced the Taliban for impeding women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan, particularly their ability to get an education and find productive work.