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Afghanistan university ban: A feeling of hopelessness

Afghan female student and a Non Governmental Organisation employee describe the current situation and how they are feeling.

Taliban guards in Afghanistan have prevented hundreds of young women from entering university campuses, after a new ban was implemented with immediate effect by the higher education minister on Tuesday. Public and private universities were ordered they suspend higher education for female students.

It is the latest policy restricting women's education since the Taliban returned to power last year.

Girls have already been excluded from most secondary schools.

The Taliban have arrested five women taking part in a protest in the Afghan capital, Kabul, against the ban on women attending universities.

Outside Source has been speaking to women in Afghanistan who are currently students or who have recently been studying.

You will hear from a student who graduated last week and an Non Governmental Organisation employee who is also now not able to go to her job. They are not named for their safety.

"I just saw lots of women and girls, they were hopeless... the only hope they had was university. Maybe one day the Taliban will announce you are not allowed out of your houses too and we are waiting for that," says the student.

(Photo: Afghan women chant slogans in protest against the closure of universities to women by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 22, 2022. Credit: Reuters/Stringer)

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3 minutes