Afghan girls of all ages permitted to study in religious schools: Official

The Ministry of Education Spokesman Mansour Ahmad said in messages to The Associated Press on Thursday that Afghan girls of all ages are permitted to study in religious schools.

“If her age is not in line with the class and (the age) is too high, then she is not allowed,” said Ahmad.

“Madrassas have the same principles as schools and older women are not allowed in junior classes.” Privately run madrassas have no age restrictions and females of all ages, including adult women, can study in these schools,” he added.

Based on AP report there are around 20,000 madrassas in Afghanistan, of which 13,500 are government-controlled. Private madrassas operate out of mosques or homes, said Ahmad. He did not give details on how many girls are studying in the country’s madrassas or if this number increased after the bans.

According to the report, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has been globally condemned for banning girls and women from education beyond sixth grade, including university.

Madrassas however are one of the few options for girls after sixth grade to receive any kind of education.

A day earlier, U.N. special envoy Roza Otunbayeva told the Security Council and reporters that the United Nations was receiving “more and more anecdotal evidence” that girls could study at the Islamic schools known as madrassas.

But Otunbayeva said it wasn’t clear what constituted a madrassa, if there was a standardized curriculum that allowed modern education subjects, and how many girls were able to study in the schools.

Otunbayeva addressed the Security Council on the first anniversary of the IEA banning women from universities. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education.