Sept 12 Reuters - Women in Afghanistan will be allowed to study at universities as the country seeks to rebuild after decades of war, but gender-segregation and Islamic dress code will be compulsory, Taliban's new Higher Education minister said on Sunday.
The Minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, said the new Taliban government, named last week, would begin building the country on what exists today and did not want to turn the clock back 20 years to when the movement was last in power.
He said that female students would be taught wherever possible by women and classrooms would stay separated, in accordance with the movement's interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Thank God we have a large number of women teacher. All efforts will be made to provide women teachers for female students, he told a news conference in Kabul.
The issue of women's education has been one of the harshest questions facing the Taliban as they seek to convince the world that they have changed since the fundamentalist rule imposed in the 1990 s when women were largely banned from studying outside the home.
Taliban officials have said women will be able to study and work in accordance with local cultural tradition and strict sharia law, but strict dress rules will apply. Haqqani said hijab religious veils would be compulsory for all female students, but did not specify whether this meant headscarves or mandatory face coverings.
On Saturday, a group of women students in separate robes that covered them completely from head to foot, seemingly showed in Kabul in support of the rules on dress and black classrooms.
Haqqani said where no women teachers were available special measures would be adopted to ensure separation.
When there is really a need, men can also teach women, but in accordance with sharia the women should observe the veil, he said. Classrooms would be closed to divide male and female students where necessary, and teaching could also be done through streaming or closed circuit TV.
Classrooms divided by curtains have already been seen in many places since Taliban-backed governments collapse and the Western Taliban seized Kabul last month. Haqqani told reporters that gender division would be strictly enforced across Afghanistan and all subject to learn at colleges would also be reviewed in the coming months.