Taliban announces ban on women attending universities in Afghanistan
20 December 2022, 18:15 | Updated: 20 December 2022, 19:54
The Taliban has announced that universities in Afghanistan are no longer open to women, just three months after thousands sat entrance exams in the hope of entering further education.
The news was announced by the Taliban's higher education minister on Tuesday and is expected to take effect immediately.
It's but the latest concern over women's educational rights under the Taliban's rule, with women already excluded from many secondary schools across Afghanistan.
Western countries, including the United States, had made improvements to female education in Afghanistan prior to the takeover, citing it as a mandatory condition for recognising the Taliban as the ruling government.
The restrictions are but the latest wave of oppressive gender reforms announced by country's rulers.
Read more: Nurses 'dreading Christmas' with many 'worried about paying rent' warns union boss Pat Cullen
Recent months have seen restrictions imposed on the subjects they could study, with veterinary science, engineering, economics and agriculture now all off limits, as well as the scope of journalism being severely narrowed.
The Taliban's takeover last year followed the withdrawal of US troops from the country. It also marked the start of a wave of gender-based educational reforms.
Universities in the country have since been forced to introduce gender segregated classrooms and entrances, with the Taliban announcing females could only be taught by women professors or old men.
It coincided with the news female students could only be taught by women professors or old men.
November also saw women banned from parks in the nation's capital, Kabul, after the group claimed Islamic laws were no longer being followed.