TALIBAN'S ANNOUNCEMENT ON WOMEN'S EDUCATION AND SPORTS
Harsh restrictions as several private universities resumed classes in the country and womens to be seen in burkhas and Women's sports banned
Kabul: Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the condition of women all around the country has been the center of attraction. Since the day the Taliban took over, Women's lives have been at stake and they are not treated like humans.
During its previous government (1996-2001), the Taliban had also banned girls from schools and educational institutes and now the same thing is happening again. Earlier this week, the group’s newly formed all-male interim government allowed female students to attend private universities but with harsh restrictions as several private universities resumed classes in the country and women seen in burkhas. Photographs of students sitting in classrooms partitioned with curtains growing faster on social media, shortly after the Taliban’s announcement.
The government passed strict rules, and women would expect to follow a strict dress code as accepted by the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam and wear a hijab while attending classes, segregated from the male students.
“Co-education conflicts with the principles of Islam and, on the other hand, it is in conflict with national values and is against the customs and traditions of Afghans” the higher education minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.
The government also advised that separate entrances must be there for males and females. Universities should either set different time schedules or ensure that partition is there in the middle of the classroom for the separation of both genders.
Earlier in August, a Taliban representative had said that virtuous female lecturers would be allowed to teach only female students but not the male ones while banning co-education in the Herat province. Female students and teachers have also expressed safety concerns as several of them fearing walking in the streets, let alone attend universities.
Taliban on playing sports for women, From swimming to soccer, running to horse riding, Afghanistan's new sports chief said on Tuesday that the Taliban would allow 400 sports– but declined to confirm if women can play a single one. "Please don't ask more questions about women," Bashir Ahmad Rustamzai, from an armchair where Afghanistan's Olympic Committee president had sat until he fled the country last month.
Rustamzai, a heavily-built former kung fu and wrestling champion with a bushy black and white beard, was appointed by the harsh Islamist group to be Afghanistan's director-general for sports and physical education.
'We will not ban any sport' as dressed in a black turban typical of the Taliban, Rustamzai repeatedly ducked questions on the issue of women's sports. During the activist's cruel and oppressive regime from 1996 to 2001, women were completely banned from playing any sport while men's sport was tightly controlled. Women were also largely banned from education and work.
Sports stadiums were regularly used for public executions. "We will not ban any sport unless it does not comply with sharia law... there is 400 type of sports allowed," Rustamzai said.