Taliban steps up its tyranny by preventing female students from studying medicine
Afghan women experience tough conditions, especially since the return of the Taliban to power in their country in mid-August 2021.
The Afghan ruling movement spares no effort to make
life difficult for women.
It deprives them of their basic rights to
education and work.
This will in turn affect the future of their
country for many years to come.
The Taliban decided recently to deny female medical
school students the right to sit their final exams.
This makes it difficult for the students to complete
their study and obtain a degree.
This also means that female students will be
deprived of the chance to work in the nation's hospitals, opening the door for
massive outrage.
The decision is also bringing the Taliban
international criticism.
No graduation for female students
The Afghan TOLOnews site reported on
February 16 that female medical students resorted to submitting a petition to
the Taliban to allow them to attend the final exams.
In doing this, the site said, the students did
not want to lose their long years of study in the medical field.
A number of other students also stood in
solidarity with those affected by the movement's decision, but to no avail so
far, the site said.
Meanwhile, social networking sites have been
replete with videos of assaults by Taliban elements on students opposing the deprivation
of girls from education.
International organizations condemned what they
described as the 'hard-line' decisions of the Taliban against women.
Al-Azhar Foundation in Egypt also released a statement,
in which it called on the movement to open the way for girls ' education.
Depriving Afghan women of education, the foundation
said, is contrary to Islamic law.
Nevertheless, the Taliban has not commented on
the statement so far.
Conflicting decisions
In October 2022, the Taliban decided to ban girls
from studying in the fields of media and journalism, as well as civil
engineering and economics at the universities.
The movement even allowed female students to
study such undesirable subjects as literature.
At that time, the movement did not prevent female
students from enrolling in medical specialties.
Intellectual reference
The effects of the Taliban's recent decisions
against women include several aspects, according to Director of the Arab Centre
for Political Studies, Mohamed Sadiq Ismail.
He said a review of the intellectual ideology of
the Taliban proves the movement's rejection of women's education.
"The same ideology views women's exit from
their homes a taboo," Ismail told The Reference in an
interview.
"This is why decisions by the movement
against the education of girls are far from surprising," he added.
Ismail believes that the ban on girls' education
is based on the intellectual reference of the movement.
He faulted the international community for
failing to take a firm position against the violations of the Taliban against
the people of Afghanistan.
