Taliban Says Women May Study in Universities, but Segregated and Veiled

Women in Afghanistan will be allowed to study in universities, but they will be required to wear Islamic dress and they will sit in gender-segregated classrooms. The country’s new higher education minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, made the announcement on Sunday.

He said that gender segregation will be enforced, including not allowing boys and girls to study together.  “We will not allow co-education,” he said.

Haqqani added that female students will be taught by women as much as possible and that teaching by males could be done through streaming lectures. He also said that the subjects being taught to female students would be reviewed, but did not further explain the ramifications of such a review.

Prior to the Taliban takeover, universities were co-educational, and female university students did not have to follow a dress code. Boys and girls are taught separately in elementary and high school.