Dozens of girls have protested in Afghanistan\u2019s Paktia province after Taliban authorities shut their schools just days after classes resumed, agencies and local media reported, as an estimated three million secondary school girls are shut out of school for more than a year now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Taliban has gone back on its promise to allow women\u2019s education and job opportunities and has since imposed curbs on women\u2019s rights, bringing back memories of its first time in power between 1996-2001 during which women\u2019s education was banned and women were banished from public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When students in Gardez went for classes on Saturday, they were told to return home, a women\u2019s rights activist and residents told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis morning when they did not allow the girls to enter schools, we held a protest,\u201d an activist told news outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Images on social and local media, including TOLO news, show the girls dressed in their school uniforms \u2013 some in head-to-toe burqas, others in school uniforms and white veils \u2013 marching through the center of Gardez to protest the closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Taliban returned to power, more than half of Afghanistan\u2019s 39 million people need humanitarian help and six million are at risk of famine, according to the UN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dozens of girls have protested in Afghanistan\u2019s Paktia province after Taliban authorities shut their schools just days after classes resumed, agencies and local media reported, as an estimated three million secondary school girls are shut out of school for more than a year now. The Taliban has gone back on its promise to allow women\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":85728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[43,252,2668,357,44],"class_list":["post-85727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","tag-afghanistan","tag-hijab","tag-muslim-students","tag-school","tag-taliban"],"yoast_head":"\n