Male students in Afghanistan vowed they will not return to class until women are allowed to return to university classrooms, Tolo News, an Afghan outlet, reported on Sunday.
The Taliban announced on Dec. 20 that women would no longer be allowed to attend university classes effective immediately, which furthered a previous order from March 2022 which prohibited women from receiving secondary education. Male students reportedly claimed that they would not return to the classroom until women were allowed to resume their studies. (RELATED: Taliban Bans Afghan Women From Higher Education)
“Universities are closed for our sisters. We don’t want to go to university either,” Nawidullah, a student, told Tolo News.
Another student told the outlet that he would not return to school because his two sisters were not allowed to continue their education. While the boycott includes students from universities across the country, according to Tolo News, it is unclear how many students are participating.
The Taliban’s minister of higher education Nida Mohammad Nadim defended the government’s decision by claiming that female students violated the dress code in classes, The Associated Press reported. He also claimed that the subjects taught in university courses were not appropriate for women to learn according to Islamic beliefs.
Afghan women chant slogans to protest against the ban on university education for women, in Kabul on December 22, 2022. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
“We told girls to have proper hijab but they didn’t and they wore dresses like they are going to a wedding ceremony,” he reportedly said. “Girls were studying agriculture and engineering, but this didn’t match Afghan culture. Girls should learn, but not in areas that go against Islam and Afghan honor.”
The Taliban’s ruling on women’s education breaks its promise that women would be able to continue their education so long as classrooms were segregated by sex, AP reported.
Nadim could not be reached for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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