MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2022) The ruling political movement of Afghanistan, Taliban (sanctioned by the UN for terrorism), decided to allow girls to take final exams, but kept educational limit at sixth grade, according to a document obtained by Sputnik.
In August 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, prompting people to flee the country for fear of human rights violations. The movement has promised that women's rights would not be infringed, but forbade high school female students from attending classes and introduced other restrictions on women.
"Minister of Education ordered heads of local education departments to start preparations for final examination of the 12th grade graduates; in this context only a woman can administer exams, hijab is obligatory for female students," the document said.
Women are prohibited to study further than the sixth grade, thus many are worried about taking exams. A local girl Salima Azizi told Sputnik she had not attended classes for over a year and did not know how she would pass the exams.
Former teacher Sadia Hussaini noted that the government should let girls study, if it wants them to be educated.
"It is important that girls are allowed to attend school and study subjects. They (the Taliban) should let girls study further than the sixth grade," Hussaini told Sputnik.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in September once again urged the authorities to allow girls to continue their education and expressed concerns that the ban could facilitate further deterioration of the crisis in the country, including security and poverty situation.
According to the UNICEF report released in August, the fact the girls in Afghanistan are deprived of secondary education had cost the country's economy at least $500 million over the past 12 months, which amounts to 2.5% of GDP. If three million girls had been able to finish their education and enter the work force, they would have brought at least $5.4 billion to the Afghanistan's economy, the report added.
