According to a letter from the higher education minister, the Taliban have declared that universities for women in Afghanistan will be shutting down.

The minister states that the change is temporary. It is anticipated to go into action right now.

Women’s access to formal education is further hampered by this as they are already largely barred from secondary schools.

In Afghanistan, hundreds of women and girls took entrance exams for universities three months ago.

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The areas they could study, however, were strictly restricted, with veterinary science, engineering, economics, and agriculture being forbidden.

Universities began implementing gender-specific classrooms and entrances after the Taliban took control of the country last year.

Only female professors or elderly males were permitted to instruct female students.

After the Taliban took control, the Afghan education system suffered greatly, and after US-led forces left Afghanistan last year, there was a mass flight of professors with advanced degrees.

The economy of the nation has been heavily reliant on foreign aid in recent years, but after the Taliban refused to admit girls to all secondary schools, aid organizations have partially, and in some cases completely, withdrew their support for the education sector.

How has Afghanistan changed in the past 20 years?
Girls crying over disorderly Taliban schools U-turn
Going to the park without the mothers
Many of the remaining teachers go without pay for months.

The most recent actions are probably going to raise more questions within the international community.

The US and other Western nations have made advances to women’s education in Afghanistan a prerequisite for the Taliban government’s official recognition.

The government of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, forbade women from entering parks in November, stating Islamic law was not being upheld there.