Tolo News reported that the head of Balkh’s provincial education department, Jalil Syed Khili, said all girls’ schools had opened.
“We have separated the girl students from the boys,” he said. The girls in Balkh were happy to be allowed to return to school. Sultan Razia, a female student in the Balkh capital Mazar-i-Sharif, which has more than 4,600 students and 162 teachers, said: “In the beginning, there were few students but the numbers are getting bigger and the lessons are good.”
Another school student, Tabassom, said: “Education is our right, we want to make our country better and no one can or should take away from us the right to education.”
According to statistics from the Balkh Education Department, there are more than 600 schools active in the province with about 50,000 students.
Last month, the Taliban-appointed Ministry of Education announced that only boys’ schools would reopen, and that only male teachers could resume their jobs.
The ministry, however, did not say anything about women teachers or girls returning to school.
Based on numbers from the Ministry of Education, there are currently 14,098 schools operating in Afghanistan, of which 4,932 are schools with students from grades 10–12, 3,781 from grades 7–9 and 5,385 with students from grades 1–6.
According to the data, 28 per cent of the total schools in classes 10-12, 15.5 per cent in classes 7-9 and 13.5 per cent in classes 1-6 are girls’ schools.
Saeed Khosti, member of the Cultural Commission of the Ministry of Culture and Information, said: “There are technical problems. There are problems that need to be solved fundamentally and policy and framework need to be created. In this framework, it should be established that How should our girls continue their lessons. When these problems are resolved, all girls can go to school.”
The students said that although the Taliban have repeatedly said that this has changed, their recent decision is disappointing and fears further loss of rights to girls and young women.
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