(Kabul) Afghans expressed their outrage on social media on Wednesday over the Taliban’s ban on women from studying at university, using the hashtag #LetHerLearn – one of the only ways to still protest in their country.
The students concerned lamented on Twitter and Facebook that their dreams were shattered by the announcement on Tuesday evening of the ban on women from entering higher education.
“The eighth semester is over and I only have four exams left,” Kabul University student Zamzama Ghazal wrote on her Facebook account with the hashtag #LetHerLearn.
” God ! Don’t take that last hope away from me,” she added.
The ban comes less than three months after thousands of girls and young women took university entrance exams across the country in hopes of continuing their education.
“We arrived at the university at 6.30am, the boys were allowed in and they pointed guns at us and told us to go home,” Tamana Aref tweeted.
It was the latest of measures encroaching on women’s rights that have been steadily eroded since the radical Islamist group returned to power in August 2021.
“I knew it would happen one day,” writes Hadia Rahmani on Facebook. “One day, even going out in the streets and on the roads will be forbidden to women until further notice,” she pours out.
Social media is flooded with videos of female students crying in despair outside campus gates after being denied entry by armed Taliban guards.
Devastation
Samim Arif, once deputy spokesman for former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, tweeted about his family’s distress upon learning that his sister would not be allowed to continue her engineering studies.
“My 18-year-old sister Wurranga worked extremely hard to get into engineering school,” he wrote.
“Now the Taliban have banned him from going to this school. His dreams are shattered, our family is devastated,” he adds.
Many users are using the hashtags #LetHerLearn and #LetAfghanGirlsLearn to express their support for the right of Afghan girls and women to education.
“Acquiring knowledge is a necessity. There is no doubt that women make up half of society,” tweeted Rashid Khan, the former captain of the national cricket team and one of Afghanistan’s few international sports stars.
Some users have shared images of Nangarhar University medical school students interrupting their exams in solidarity with their fellow young girls who were banned from entering.
A mathematics teacher in Kabul also took a stand. Obaidullah Wardak announced his resignation on Facebook, saying he did not want to continue teaching “where young girls are not allowed to study”.
Others tried to remember happier times. Tweeting a photo of a previous women’s graduation ceremony, Arifa Iran wrote: “The Taliban’s tears flow at such scenes when they see Afghans studying.”