Old men of ‘good character’ can teach women in Afghan universities: Report

As some private universities in Afghanistan are planning to resume classes on Monday, the Taliban have issued a detailed diktat specifying how women attending universities should dress, news agency AFP reported.

Earlier, the Taliban ordered that women will be allowed access to higher education, but there will be no provision of co-education and male teachers will not be allowed to teach female students. In the recent order, it has been mentioned that old men of good character can teach female students if there are not enough female teachers in universities.

The new order does not have any mention of burqa which covers the entire body, but the niqab effectively covers most of the face, AFP reported adding that burqas and niqabs are making a comeback in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

“Universities are required to recruit female teachers for female students based on their facilities,” the decree said, adding that men and women should use separate entrances and exits.

The new diktat has also said that women will have to end their lesson five minutes earlier than men so that there is no scope of mingling after the class.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan put Afghanistan women in uncertainty as women saw dark days in the former regime of the Taliban between 1996 and 2000. The Taliban have promised an accommodative stance for women and said that women will have their rights under the Taliban rule as permitted by Sharia law.

However, there is likely to be no participation of women in the government that the Taliban are yet to announce. For the past few days, women are protesting in Herat and Kabul demanding inclusion in the government. In such a protest in Kabul on Saturday, the Taliban sprayed tear gas to stop the protesters from marching towards the President’s Palace.

Many women, including artistes, journalists have left the country fearing persecution by the Taliban. Earlier, the Taliban leadership appealed to the women to stay at home as the Taliban fighters in control of the security of Afghanistan were not trained to respect women, Taliban spokesperson had said. Later, women associated with health care services were urged to join work.