Co-Education Not Allowed but Women Can Still Study – Veiled – in Universities in Afghanistan

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, appointed by the Taliban, said Sunday. Abdul Baqi Haqqani said that the Taliban “will not allow co-education,” and that gender segregation will be enforced, including not allowing boys and girls to study together. Haqqani added that female students will be taught by women as much as possible and that teaching by males could be done, ironically, by using modern technology that has been banned in the past, such as live-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 Afghan elementary and high school and were prior to the Taliban takeover of the country last month, however.