The 1405 academic year has officially begun across Afghanistan. It is the fifth academic year in which girls above grade six remain barred from attending school.
Taliban officials, during a ceremony held to mark the start of the new academic year, made no reference to women’s and girls’ education.
A United Nations report shows that more than 2.2 million girls in Afghanistan are deprived of formal education.
At the ceremony, a message from Habibullah Agha, the Taliban’s Minister of Education, was read out. In part of the message, he said the Taliban’s Ministry of Education remains committed, “as in previous years,” to providing “standard, healthy, and balanced” education according to its own programs.
Mohammad Tawoos Tariq, Director General of the Office of the Taliban Ministry of Education, said the ministry remains committed to strengthening “religious education and modern sciences,” adding that “our efforts continue in this regard.”
Sibghatullah Wasil, Deputy Minister for Finance and Administration at the Taliban Ministry of Education, said: “The curriculum for grades one to six has been developed and is being printed. Over the past year, a total of 800 school buildings have been repaired and reconstructed.”
