Academics quit jobs in Afghanistan to protest ban on university education for women

Dozens of Afghan academics have quit teaching in protest against the Taliban’s widely condemned order barring university education for women.

Women in Afghanistan endured a challenging environment on campuses even before a decree last month completely excluded them from higher education, a move that triggered international outrage.

At least 60 Afghan academics have given up teaching, protesting the discriminatory education system, saying their sisters were denied their rights, media reports said.

Abdul Raqib Ekleel, who resigned from his role as a lecturer at Kabul Polytechnic University, accused the Taliban of betraying the nation by taking women’s education hostage for “their political benefits”.

The Taliban, which seized power after the withdrawal of troops by the US and its allies in August 2020, went back on its promise to honour women’s rights.

Before the outright ban on female students from universities, the regime had enforced regressive rules including gender-segregated classrooms and entrances, while women were permitted to be taught only by women professors or old men.

“In the last year and a half, the Taliban have made many irrational demands on female students, such as regulating their clothes, hijab, separate classes, being accompanied by mahram [legal male guardian] and the students have obliged with all of them. Every professor conducted the same lectures twice every week, once for the male and then for the female. Despite that, the Taliban still banned the women,” Ekleel told the Guardian.

According to him, the ban which hurts “everyone” is against “Islamic values” and “national interest”.

“I could not be part of such a system,” Ekleel said.

Baktash Amini, who worked at Kabul University as an assistant professor before quitting his role said the only way for him to express his protest was to leave “a system that discriminates against women”, although it meant giving up his “dream job”.

Ismail Mashal, who also taught at the university, famously tore up degree certificates on national television, saying Afghanistan was no longer a place for education.