MIHTARLAM: Some public universities re-opened in Afghanistan on Wednesday for the first time since the Taliban seized power in August, with a trickle of women attending classes that officials said would be segregated by sex.

Most secondary schools for girls and all public universities were shuttered when the Taliban stormed back to power, sparking fears women would again be barred from education -- as happened during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996-2001.

“It’s a moment of joy for us that our classes have started,” Zarlashta Haqmal, who studies law and political science at Nangarhar University, told AFP.

“But we are still worried that the Taliban might stop them.” One analyst said the reopening of universities was a “critical marker” on the Taliban’s road to international recognition.

Universities in Laghman, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, Farah and Helmand open first time since Taliban took power

Officials said universities in Laghman, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, Farah and Helmand provinces opened on Wednesday.

More were scheduled to resume operations elsewhere in the country later this month.

A correspondent saw one small group of women, wearing the all-covering burqa, enter Laghman University early on Wednesday.

The men who attended — ferried to the campus in taxis and buses — were dressed in traditional tunics, known as shalwar kameez.

Attendance was very light and Taliban fighters guarded the entrance, a tripod-mounted machine gun resting on a boom gate.

Most students declined to offer their thoughts on returning to class, with some saying they had been warned by authorities not to speak to the press. Journalists were prevented from entering the Laghman campus and universities in other provinces.

Shortage of women lecturers

The Taliban have said they have no objection to education for women, but want classes to be segregated and the curriculum based on Islamic principles.

“We were told that the classes will be held according to the Sharia law,” said Malik Samadi, a 23-year-old mathematics student.

“I hope that they keep all the courses, because society needs them.” “Education is the foundation of a country,” said civil engineering student Munsefullah at Helmand University, expressing joy at returning to his studies.

Some institutions like Laghman University faced shortage of women teachers. The university had only one female teacher for about 270 female students.

University head Asmatullah Durrani said the board was now looking to “recruit more women” teachers.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) chief Deborah Lyons called for more “scholarship programmes and support” to lecturers now that the universities were opening.

Rights of women

The reopenings come a week after a Taliban delegation held talks with Western officials in Norway, where they were pressed on improving the rights of women to unlock billions of dollars in seized assets and frozen foreign aid.

The halting of aid has triggered a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which has already been devastated by decades of war.

No country has yet recognised the new Taliban regime, which has promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022