• Taliban announces ban on female students from attending university entrance exam till further notice

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    Taliban announces ban on female students from attending university entrance exam till further notice
    The Taliban has informed Afghan universities that female students will not be allowed to take examinations until further notice...

    Digital Desk: The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has banned female students from sitting for the university entrance exam, which was also scheduled to take place in February, months after pushing women out of universities. 

    The Taliban barred all women from attending college and institutions until further notice in December, triggering demonstrations as the action resulted in a total ban on girls and women pursuing education after class 6.

    The Taliban education ministry has now issued a warning to universities stating that girls cannot apply for exams till further notice, according to TOLOnews report. Female students have basically been barred from taking the entrance exam. 

    Despite pledging a more moderate government that respects women's and minorities' rights, the Taliban have widely applied their stringent interpretation of Islamic law since capturing control of the country in May 2021.

    Since May, The taliban have banned girls from middle and high school, barred women from most jobs, and commanded them to wear head-to-toe garb in public. Women are also forbidden from using gyms and parks. 

    Female employees of all local and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been barred from working till further notice because they did not follow the administration's interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women. 

    The UN rights experts have stated the Taliban's targeting of women and girls intensifies "flagrant abuses of their human rights and freedoms that are already the most draconian globally and may amount to gender persecution — a crime against humanity".