Since the Taliban takeover of the western-supported Afghan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, in August of last year, there has been a continuous level of uncertainty surrounding the policy of the group’s interim government towards female education.

With no official statement made by the Higher Education Minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, at the time of writing, all we know of the Taliban’s approach are the following: the policy that women would be allowed to study alongside men, a dress code of mandatory hijabs, and a review of the subjects women would be able to study, have all been put into effect.

However, we have seen girls banned from secondary education across much of the country, making Afghanistan the only country to bar half of its population from getting this level of education. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called on the Taliban to reconsider their position, stating that “a society that allows only half of its population to move forward, and purposely keeps the other half behind is unsustainable”.

Similar appeals have been made by many, including prominent female rights activist Malala Yousafzai, who says she is “deeply worried about women, minorities, and human rights advocates”.

The EU Council President, Charles Michel, has also called for preserving “as much as possible the gains of the last 20 years”. In this period, an increase of 38% of primary-aged girls attending primary education has been seen and, according to UNESCO, female literacy doubled to 30% in just a decade, following the last time the Taliban were removed from power.

Susannah Hare, the Director of the Center for Global Development, has also predicted a large drop in school attendances in mixed-sex schools, with few existing in Afghanistan as it stands. Particularly in the more conservative South of the country, co-educational schools are rare, and the Taliban’s policy seeks to extend this gender segregation - a hallmark policy of the brutal regime under which the group governed in the 1990s. This has a further effect on female education, as only 16% of schools in Afghanistan are girls-only.

For the female students in Afghanistan, who will be directly affected by the Taliban policies put in place, it is hard not to feel discouraged by the inaction of their government. One 16-year-old schoolgirl in Kabul has told the BBC that her “dream has vanished”, and that she does not “think they would let us go back to school”. Another told the Telegraph that she “had many plans for the future… but unfortunately, all my dreams have fallen down”. It has been made clear that for many, it is difficult to be optimistic about the situation.

Other opinions suggest light at the end of the tunnel. UNICEF has said that it is “quite optimistic” about the Taliban’s comments on girls' education, which, they say, have been early expressions of support for girls’ education. The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn has corroborated this, saying “I think they will allow women to go to schools… The idea that women should not be educated is just not Islamic. It has nothing to do with religion”.

A similar sentiment was reflected in the Wall Street Journal, reporting on 12 October that secondary schools had reopened for girls in 4 Northern Afghan provinces. The Northern provinces of the country have been generally more liberal in the last 20 years than their Southern counterparts, and this move has indicated something of a willingness from the Taliban to shape policy around cultural differences in Afghanistan - a very sharp departure from their policy of the 1990s. The article even reports that a top Taliban education official has asked teachers to actively persuade girls to return to schools.

In mid-March 2022, the hopes of many were answered as an education official in the Taliban government announced that “all schools are going to be open to all boys and girls”. Although the decision was nuanced with the continuation of “conditions” concerning females being taught separately from males, and by exclusively female teachers, this is a significant step forward for female education in the country.

Nevertheless, this progress may be only temporary. Afghanistan’s financial system is greatly unstable, with 70% of the previous government’s non-military budget coming from foreign aid, much of which has now been cut. The revenue gained from customs and taxation cover only a fraction of public spending, and teachers in Northern Afghanistan say that whilst they are happy students are returning to class, the financial situation is unsustainable. Shamim Sayal Jamshid, the Principal of Sedarak Girls High School in Kunduz, has said that "We are working as volunteers these days. We haven’t been paid in three months… But we are happy that the doors of schools are open for girls.”
Malala Yousafzai is correct in saying “we cannot make compromises on the protection of women’s rights and the protection of human dignity”. Uncertainty surrounding female education in Afghanistan may continue for some time into the future, so world leaders must make it their priority to protect the rights of female citizens in a country that has endured so much in the last 30 years.

Toby is an upper sixth form student in the UK, working towards his A-Level qualifications. He intends to attend Cambridge University to read law next year, and hopes that, later in life, he will work with others to achieve a more just world for all.
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