The Taliban has excluded girls from returning to secondary school and replaced Afghanistan's women's ministry with an all-male 'vice and virtue' department.
The Islamists excluded girls from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan on Saturday but ordered boys and male teachers back to the classroom.
The hardline group ousted the US-backed government last month, promising a softer brand of rule than their repressive reign in the 1990s, when women were mostly banned from education and work.
But the diktat from the education ministry was the latest move from the new government to threaten women's rights.
'All male teachers and students should attend their educational institutions,' a statement said ahead of classes resuming Saturday.
The statement, issued late Friday, made no mention of women teachers or girl pupils.
Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan on Saturday, after the country's new Taliban rulers ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom
'All male teachers and students should attend their educational institutions,' a statement said ahead of classes resuming Saturday. The statement, issued late Friday, made no mention of women teachers or girl pupils
Secondary schools, with students typically between the ages of 13 and 18, are often segregated by sex in Afghanistan.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, they have faced repeated closures and have been shut since the Taliban seized power.
Since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001, significant progress has been made in girls' education, with the number of schools tripling and female literacy nearly doubling to 30 per cent - however, the change was largely limited to the cities.
The United Nations said it was 'deeply worried' for the future of girls' schooling in Afghanistan.
'It is critical that all girls, including older girls, are able to resume their education without any further delays.
'For that, we need female teachers to resume teaching,' the UN's children's agency UNICEF said.
Since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001, significant progress has been made in girls' education, with the number of schools tripling and female literacy nearly doubling to 30 per cent - however, the change was largely limited to the cities
The new regime has also permitted women to go to private universities, though with tough restrictions on their clothes and movement (pictured a militant escorts veiled women during a pro-Taliban protest on September 11)
Primary schools have already reopened, with boys and girls mostly attending separate classes and some women teachers returning to work.
The new regime has also permitted women to go to private universities, though with tough restrictions on their clothes and movement.
In a further sign that the Taliban's approach to women and girls had not softened, they appeared to have shut down the government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with a department notorious for enforcing strict religious doctrine during their first rule.
In Kabul on Friday, workers were seen raising
