About two dozen protesters, mostly women, gathered near the Taliban’s Ministry of Education on Saturday morning to urge Taliban to reopen girls’ schools. The Taliban were widely condemned earlier this week for making a last-minute decision just hours after young students started arriving for the new academic year to kick off.
The protesters chanted, “Education is our right! Open the doors of girls’ schools!” as armed Taliban members stare. A female teacher who attended told the BBC: “As for girls who want to stand up for freedom and go to school, I am ready to die. We are here for the rights of our daughters to get an education. Without that right, we might as well be dead already.”
The Taliban had previously interrupted demonstrations and detained those who participated, but on this occasion the protest was allowed to continue. Since the group took power last August, girls’ primary schools have remained open in most of the country, along with all boys’ schools, but older girls have not been allowed to enter the classroom.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Education said girls’ secondary schools would restart on Wednesday, but the decision was rejected by the group’s central leadership, saying they could remain closed until a “comprehensive” and “Islamic” plan is drawn up for them.
