Afghanistan: As schools reopen, Unicef urges Taliban to lift ban on girls’ education
New Delhi: The UN’s children’s agency on Saturday urged the Taliban’s rulers of Afghanistan to lift the ongoing ban on girl’s education immediately, to save and secure future of millions deprived of their right to education since the Islamists returned to power in 2021.
This appeal came soon after a new school year began without girls beyond sixth grade, depriving an additional 400,000 girls of their right education, bringing the total to 2.2 million, the media reported.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans secondary and higher education for girls and justifies it claiming that it doesn’t comply with the interpretation of Sharia’h or the Islamic Law.
This ban is a clear indication of violation of girls’ rights, and since the ban is three –year long, it will create hindrances for women’s development across Afghanistan.
The Unicef warned that the decline in the number of female doctors and midwives will leave women and girls without crucial medical care, which may result in an estimated 1,600 additional maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths.
The Taliban government, earlier this year, skipped a Pakistan-hosted global conference where Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the state of women’s and girl’s rights in Afghanistan as gender apartheid.
