Taliban says all Afghan girls will be back in school by March

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Women’s schools throughout Afghanistan will hopefully reopen at the end of March, a senior Taliban leader told the Associated Press, offering the first timeline to resume high school for girls since the group propagated in mid-August.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Government and Deputy Minister of Culture and Information, said the Department of Education Group would open a classroom for all girls and women in the New Year Afghanistan, which began on March 21.

Although the Taliban did not officially ban the education of girls, the group fighters have closed middle school women and hated women from state universities in several parts of the country.

The girls in most Afghanistan have not been allowed to return to schools outside the 7th grade since the Taliban took over, and reversed which had become one of the main demands of the activists of the rights of women and the international community for months.

Education for girls and women “is a question about capacity,” Mujahid said in an interview. “We try to solve this problem by the coming year,” so that schools and universities can open, he added.

The international community, reluctant to officially recognize the administration managed by the Taliban, is alert that the group can impose hard steps similar to the previous rules 20 years ago. At that time, women were banned from education, work and public life.

“We are not against education,” Mujahid emphasized, spoke in the Ministry of Culture and Information in Kabul.

In many provinces, higher classes (girls’ schools) are open, but in some places where it is closed, the reason is the economic crisis and framework, we need to do in crowded areas. And for that we need to build. New procedure, “he said.

Older girls from Grade 7 have been allowed to return to classrooms in government-run schools around a dozen 34 provinces of the country.

Anzorat Middle School students, who only give his first name, reveal doubts.

think they will reopen the school of girls because they have said so many things but haven’t followed up. If they really open school again it will be the best for girls,” he said.

From the Taliban perspective, education for girls is a crime, if not like this, they will not forbid them from school,” said 19-year-old to Al Jazeera.

In a heavy population, it is not enough to have separate classrooms for boys and girls – a separate school building is needed, he said.

We do not lack labor or human resources, we need economic cooperation for the people of Afghanistan, we need cooperation in trade, we need to build good diplomatic relations with other countries,” he said, adding that Afghanistan needs humanitarian assistance.

Taliban have struggled to get international recognition to end isolation, which has not helped the situation in the field.

Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, appealed to economic work, trade and “stronger diplomatic relations”.

So far, neighboring Afghanistan or the United Nations does not seem to be ready to provide formal recognition, which will help open Afghan’s economy.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for greater economic development, by saying it is important to inject liquidity into the Afghan economy “and avoid destruction which will cause poverty, hunger, and destitution for millions.”