Local sources say the Taliban have barred girls over the age of 10 from attending school in Kandahar province, sending around 600 girls home from schools across the province over the past month.
Sources told the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Saturday, October 31, that the “Hibatullah Council of Ulema” had issued a verbal order to the Taliban’s provincial education department to review the identity documents of students in grades below sixth grade.
According to the sources, under the order, girls over the age of 10 are not allowed to attend school, even if they are enrolled in sixth grade.
The sources added that a joint committee comprising the Taliban’s provincial education department, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the Taliban’s Council of Ulema and Taliban officials is reviewing students’ identity documents.
According to the sources, over the past month, the Taliban have sent around 600 girls in grades one through six home from schools in Kandahar because they are older than 10 or considered too tall.
The sources said the Taliban’s Council of Ulema in Kandahar considers 12 to be the age of puberty. As a result, girls approaching that age are not allowed to leave their homes to pursue modern education.
This comes after some families in Kandahar reported that the Taliban had prevented girls below sixth grade from attending school at the beginning of the 1405 school year.
