Afghanistan: Female students in Badakhshan urge Taliban to reopen secondary schools

Kabul [Afghanistan], March 25 (ANI): Female students of secondary schools in Badakhshan on Saturday urged the Taliban to reopen schools to allow them to pursue education as the new school year has started, TOLO News reported.

In order to prevent anxiety and depression, several girls have started learning carpet weaving in a workshop. Breshna, a student, said that they are facing mental health problems after being deprived of schooling. Farzana, another student, said that they are ready to wear hijab if the Taliban allows them to go to school.

"We have faced mental health issues after being deprived of schooling," TOLO News quoted Breshna as saying.

"If they want Hijab we will wear it and we will accept any conditions. They should only let us go to schools," TOLO News quoted Farzana as saying.

Notably, secondary schools have remained closed for girls for nearly two years. The international community, including the UN agencies, have called for the reopening of schools for females.

Mursal Niazi, another student, said, "We accept their conditions if they want to change school subjects change it but they should reopen schools for us." Meanwhile, some activists in Badakhshan said that the closure of girls' schools is of no benefit to Afghanistan, as per the news report.

Angiza Bedar, an activist, called for the opening of schools so that females can get an education. Local officials in Badakhshan said that they are waiting for leadership's orders to reopen schools.

Earlier this week, the UN experts in a statement said that the denial of women's rights to education by the Taliban in Afghanistan has no justification on any grounds as it has harmed not only them but also the country's future in a crucial way.

The UN experts stressed that the continued "denial of girls and young women's right to school in Afghanistan marks a global low in education, harming an entire gender, a generation, and the future of the country," TOLO News reported citing the statement.

"On 22 March 2023, schools should be reopening to girls across Afghanistan. Instead, it appears that for the second successive school year, teenage girls will be banned from resuming their studies - making Afghanistan the only country in the world that forbids girls and young women from attending secondary school and places of higher education," the statement reads as per the TOLO News report.

The UN experts called education an "enabling right" which they stressed is crucial for realising other human rights like rights to work, and an adequate standard of living.

The statement further reads, "Education is an enabling right, which is crucial in and of itself and for realising other human rights such as the rights to work, to an adequate standard of living, to health, to participate in society and communities, to equality before the law and to fundamental freedoms. Denying this right to half the population effectively denies women and girls most other human rights." (ANI)