KABUL (Reuters) – A whole lot of Afghan ladies took entrance exams on Friday for a Turkish basis in Kabul that runs a few of Afghanistan’s most extremely regarded faculties, regardless of a delay by the Taliban in permitting the 13-year-olds to return to the classroom.
Some 3,500 college students sat the extremely aggressive exams for the Afghan-Turk faculty system, with ladies making up nearly 40% of candidates, Reza Parsa, a faculty official, mentioned.
The transfer got here regardless of the Taliban authorities’s delay in authorising ladies above grade 7 – aged about 13 – to return to highschool following a ban imposed when the motion seized energy in August.
“We wish all ladies to be educated. That is our president’s and our authorities’s want and that of Afghans,” the Academic Councillor at Kabul’s Turkish Embassy, Changez Idmir, mentioned at a information convention to mark the holding of the doorway assessments.
Dealing with mounting international strain, the Taliban have mentioned they are going to enable older ladies to renew courses as soon as preparations are made to make sure they will accomplish that in conformity with what the motion considers correct Islamic requirements.
Afghan-Turk faculties are regarded among the many high faculties in Afghanistan and admission is extremely aggressive.
Unofficially, many components of the nation have seen older ladies restart courses, whereas formally the Taliban say they’re nonetheless engaged on a nationwide system.
An official of the Taliban-led schooling ministry, Ehsan Khateb, additionally attended the ceremony and thanked the Turkish authorities.
Afghan-Turk faculties have needed to make adjustments to their curriculum, shutting music, theatre and dance departments on the request of Taliban officers, the pinnacle of the Turkish instructional basis, Salleh Saghar, instructed Reuters.
The inspiration revered the foundations and tradition of the host nation, he mentioned.
“Just like the music, theatre and dancing division … based mostly on Taliban requests we closed the departments,” he mentioned, and it was for the Taliban authorities to determine if they might reopen.
(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; Enhancing by Giles Elgood)
