Afghan women will be allowed to study at universities under Taliban rule, but mixed classes will be prohibited, the Taliban’s acting higher education minister said on Sunday.
According to Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban’s acting Minister for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education, classrooms for female students will be separated from those for male students.
Speaking with officials from public and private universities as well as Ministry employees on Sunday, Haqqani stated that Afghan girls have the right to study but cannot do so in the same classrooms as boys, according to Tolo News.
He also stated that female students will be provided with a safe educational environment.
Meanwhile, Abbas Basir, the former Minister of Higher Education, said at the same event that the Taliban has promised to preserve the past two decades’ achievements in the education sector and the higher education ministry.
“The higher education ministry has made better progress than any other departments in terms of system-making,” Basir said.
Private university union officials, on the other hand, said that most of the laws have been imposed on them, and they urged the new acting minister to address this issue in the next government.
“The big problem is in the laws and we want the ministry’s officials to rewrite them soon,” said Tariq Kuma, head of the union of private universities.
The new acting higher education minister stated that universities will reopen soon and that lecturers’ and the ministry’s employees’ salaries will be paid.