First Fatwa issued by Taliban for female students.
Taliban’s first Fatwa says that women can’t sit in the same class with the boys at varsities. The Taliban officials in Afghanistan Herat province have issued an order for the Government and Private universities that women will no longer be allowed to sit in the classes with boys.
The Fatwa came after three hours of meeting between the university lecturers, owners of private institutions, and the Taliban officials, the latter said that there is no alternative and justification for continuing with co-education and it must be ended.
The Head of Higher Education of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate Mullah Farid, who represented the Taliban in the meeting in Herat, during the meeting, it said that co-education should be ended because this system is the root of all evils in the society.
Mullah Farid suggested that female lecturers or elderly male ones who are virtuous are allowed to teach female students and for the co-education, there is neither an alternative nor any justification to be continued.
The lecturers in Herat province have raised their concerns about the decision, they said that the Government Universities and institutions can manage separate classes, but in the case of private institutions, they cannot afford a separate class.
Lecturers have also said that since they cannot afford separate classes, thousand of girls may remain deprived of higher education.
Afghanistan has a mixed system of both co-education and separate lessons with colleges functioning separate lessons whereas co-education is applied both in Government and private universities and institutes across the country.
There are reportedly around 40,000 college students and 2,000 lecturers in private and Government universities and institutions in the province.
Author: Papri Nath
