35,000 female students in Afghanistan denied education as Medical Institutions close

Sources in the Taliban’s Ministry of Health told AFP that at least 35,000 female students have been deprived of their education due to the ban on women in medical institutions.

These students were enrolled in 10 government institutes and over 150 private ones, according to the sources.

Some of the students affected by this decision have expressed fear and despair over the closure of these institutions.

Zahra, one of the students who had switched from university to a medical institute after schools were closed, said, “This was my last hope to do something, to become someone. But everything has been taken away from us simply because we are girls.”

The Taliban leader recently instructed educational institutions to prevent women from being admitted.

Zahra, who was in her first year at a private institution, added, “Everyone is confused, and no one really knows what’s happening. We take two or three exams every day… even though we finished our exams months ago.”

One administrator of a private institution in Kabul, which has 1,100 students, 700 of whom are women, said, “We have received many messages from students and teachers asking if there is any hope. No one is happy.”

According to sources from the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health, 35,000 women were studying fields like nursing, midwifery, dentistry, and laboratory sciences at these institutions.

The United Nations has condemned this decision, describing it as systematic and unacceptable discrimination against women. Experts have called the decision “gendercide,” warning that it could lead to “unnecessary suffering, disease, and possibly death for Afghan women and children.”

The UN stated that this decision would have devastating consequences in a country that already has some of the highest maternal and neonatal mortality rates in the world.

Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, the group has imposed widespread restrictions on women, making Afghanistan the only country where girls are banned from attending school beyond the 6th grade.