Class struggle
For now, these students from a school in the village of Arzo, about 150km south of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, are some of the lucky ones. This month, the Taliban confirmed that girls would be banned from secondary schools. Since they took back power this summer, many schools have remained totally closed. However in a few provinces, some have stayed open after reaching agreements with local officials. Ironically, these include provinces long controlled by the Taliban, who had been relatively tolerant in recent years. Females were banned from schools and universities during the Taliban’s rule between 1996 and 2001. After that, girls’ attendance rose from six per cent in 2003 to 39 per cent in 2017. But nobody is sure what will happen next. Acting deputy education minister Abdul Hakim Hemat said girls…
