KABUL, Jan 21: Afghanistan’s chief justice on Tuesday termed co-education un-Islamic, casting a further shadow over the country’s already battered schooling system.

Supreme Court judge Mawlawi Fazel Hadi Shinwari made his comments following moves by a powerful Afghan provincial governor to restrict education for women despite international pressure for equality in the classroom.

“According to Islam and Shariat, co-education is haram for boys and girls when they become adult,” he said.

Although it is rare for male and female youths to share the classroom, co-education is common in Afghanistan’s universities.

The judge said Herat governor Ismail Khan’s reported moves to pull male teachers out of girls’ schools was overstepping the mark.

“A male teacher, if he’s an honest Muslim can teach women, that’s not a problem,” he said.

In an earlier interview with the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press, Shinwari rejected complaints by human rights groups against Khan’s moves.

Women have only just returned to the classroom in Afghanistan following the five-year rule of the Taliban.

Shinwari also disclosed plans to establish a permanent shura of 64 religious scholars.—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

Ultimate price
Updated 02 Nov, 2024

Ultimate price

To dismantle culture of impunity for crimes against journalists, state must ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.
Mastung bombing
02 Nov, 2024

Mastung bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine...
Plane speak
02 Nov, 2024

Plane speak

DESPITE all its efforts to facilitate PIA’s privatisation, it seems the government only ended up being taken for a...
Seeking investment
Updated 01 Nov, 2024

Seeking investment

Foreign visits will be fruitless unless crucial structural, policy reforms directly affecting investors are focused.
State-backed terror
01 Nov, 2024

State-backed terror

OVER the past year or so, India’s reportedly malign activities in foreign countries have increasingly come under the radar, with
Shared crisis
01 Nov, 2024

Shared crisis

WITH Lahore experiencing unprecedented levels of smog, the Punjab government has announced a series of “green...