AFGHAN MEN LEAVE THE CLASSROOM TO PROTEST THE EXCLUSION OF WOMEN FROM COLLEGES

Afghanistan: In response to the Taliban's order, some 60 professors employed by several universities resigned from their positions.

In Afghanistan, several men left their seats in protest over the Taliban's decision to bar women from enrolling in schools. In support of women, many university academics in Afghanistan also took a strike action. Earlier, the education minister for the Taliban regime defended the decision to bar women from attending colleges and universities by claiming that "We told girls to have proper hijab but they didn't and they wore outfits like they are going to a wedding ceremony."

"Girls were majoring in engineering and agriculture, but this didn't fit with Afghan culture. In order to prevent the mingling of genders in universities still governed by the regime, education minister Nida Mohammad Nadim said, "Girls should learn, but not in subjects that violate Islam and Afghan honour.

According to the Independent, following the Taliban's directive, some 60 teachers across universities resigned from their positions. A number of male students also left these institutions in support of their female peers.

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As a university associate professor who spent more than 10 years in the higher education field as a student and lecturer, such tactics [by the Taliban] hurt me a lot. The only other choice I had was to resign from my position, according to Obaidullah Wardak, a former professor at Kabul University, who spoke to Independent.

To stop demonstrations and reactions, their military patrol the campuses and forbid people from congregating there. They also briefly detained some of the female women's rights activists for their refusal to demonstrate, he added.