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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaAfghanistan: Teen girls despair as Taliban school ban continuesPublished3 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Boys – like these ones in Khost – returned to school this week, but teenage girls were kept at homeBy Aalia Farzan & Flora DruryBBC NewsTeenage girls have told the BBC they feel “mentally dead” as the Taliban’s ban on their education prevents them from returning to school once again.More than 900 days have now passed since girls over 12 were first banned.The Taliban have repeatedly promised they would be readmitted once a number of issues were resolved – including ensuring the curriculum was “Islamic”.But they have made little comment as a third new school year started without teenage girls in class this week.The BBC has asked the Taliban’s education minister for an explanation, but he has so far not responded. The Taliban’s chief spokesman told local TV there had been “some problems and shortcomings for different reasons” in getting the ban lifted.According to Unicef, the ban has now impacted some 1.4m Afghan girls – among them, former classmates Habiba, Mahtab and Tamana, who spoke to the BBC last year.The hope they described 12 months ago is still there, but seems to have dwindled.”In reality, when we think, we don’t live, we are just alive,” Mahtab, 16, says. “Think of us like a moving dead body in Afghanistan.”Tamana – who dreams of a PhD – agrees. “I mean, we are physically alive but mentally dead,” she says.Girls were first singled out and prevented from going to secondary school back in September 2021 – a month after the Taliban took control of the country.Acting Deputy Education Minister Abdul Hakim Hemat later told the BBC that girls would not be allowed to attend secondary school until a new education policy in line with Islamic and Afghan traditions was approved, which would be in time for the start of school in March 2022.Image source, AFPImage caption, Girls are allowed to attend school up until secondary under the TalibanTwo years later, Zainab – not her real name – is among the 330,000 girls Unicef estimates should have started secondary school this March. She had held onto hope that she and fellow girls in Grade Six would be able to continue, up to the point her headmaster entered the exam hall to explain they would not be able to return for the new term.Zainab had been top of her class. Now, she tells the BBC: “I feel like I have buried my dreams in a dark hole.”Zainab’s father has attempted to leave Afghanistan, but so far without success. Officially, Zainab’s only option is classes at government-controlled religious schools, or madrassas – something the family do not want.”It is not an alternative to school,” her father says. “They will only teach her religious subjects.”For now, she attends an English class being quietly run in her neighbourhood – one of many which have quietly emerged in defiance of the ban in the last few years. Girls have also been able to keep up their studies by following courses online, or watching programmes like BBC Dars – an education programme for Afghan children, including girls aged 11-16 barred from school, described as a “learning lifeline” by the United Nations last year.Where to find DarsBBC News Afghanistan TV and radio satellite channel BBC News Pashto and BBC News Dari Facebook and YouTube channels BBC Persian TV FM, short-wave and medium-wave radio But Zainab and girls like her are among the more fortunate ones. When families are struggling to get enough to eat – as many in Afghanistan are – accessing online education is simply not seen “as a priority for their daughters”, notes Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s regional campaigner.The future for many of Afghanistan’s girls is “bleak”, she warns – pointing to the fact young girls are continuing to be married off when they reach puberty, and are further endangered by the Taliban’s rollback of laws designed to protect women in abusive marriages.And it is not just 13-year-olds being prevented from accessing an education. The BBC has found the ban even being extended to younger girls if they appear to have gone through puberty.Naya, not her real name, is just 11 but is no longer attending school in her home province of Kandahar. Her father says the government has “abandoned” her because she looks older than she is.”She is larger than average, and that was the reason the government told us she couldn’t go to school. She must wear the veil (hijab) and stay at home.”He doesn’t hold out much hope for the rules changing under the current regime, but was keen to stress one point: the idea the people of Afghanistan backed the Taliban’s ban was an “absolute lie”. “It is absolutely an accusation on Afghans and Pashtuns that they don’t want daughter’s education, but the issue is vice-versa,” he said. “Specially in Kandahar and other Pashtun provinces (where Pashtun people live), a lot people are ready to send their daughters to schools and universities to get education.”Image source, AFPImage caption, Afghan boys at a celebration to mark the opening of the school year this weekThe ban on a secondary education is far from the only change these girls are facing, however. In December 2022, women were told they could no longer attend university. Then there were the rules restricting how far a woman could travel without a male relative, on how they dressed, what jobs they could do, and even a ban on visiting their local parks.There are hopes, says Amnesty’s Samira Hamidi, that the secret schools and online education “can be expanded”. But, she added: “In a country with over one million girls facing a ban on their fundamental human rights to education, these efforts are not enough.”What it needs, she argues, is “for immediate and measurable actions by the international community to pressurise the Taliban”, as well as wider international support for education across the country.But until that happens, girls like Habiba, Mahtab and Tamana will remain at home.”It’s very difficult,” says Habiba, 18. “We feel ourselves in a real dungeon.”But she says she still has hope. Her friend Tamana is not so sure.”Honestly, I don’t know whether the schools will reopen or not under this government which doesn’t have a bit of thought or understanding for girls,” the 16-year-old says. “They count the girls as nothing.”Additional reporting by Mariam Aman and Georgina Pearce Related TopicsAfghanistanWomen’s rights in AfghanistanTalibanFemale educationMore on this storyBBC show is a ‘lifeline’ for Afghan girls, UN saysPublished14 October 2023Taliban stop girls leaving Afghanistan for scholarshipsPublished28 August 2023Afghan women escape for a chance at educationPublished16 August 2023Key moments in the crushing of Afghan women’s rightsPublished15 August 2023BBC helps Afghan children banned from schoolPublished1 April 2023’When I see the boys going to school, it hurts’Published27 March 2023Hopes fade as Afghan universities reopen without womenPublished7 March 2023Taliban ban women from Afghan universitiesPublished21 December 2022Girls’ despair as Taliban confirm Afghan school banPublished8 December 2021Top StoriesLive. 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[ad_1] The ban on a secondary education is far from the only change these girls are facing, however. In December 2022, women were told they could no longer attend university.…
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaSenegal President Macky Sall rejects blame for election chaosPublished46 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Senegal President Macky Sall: ‘I will not apologise because I did nothing wrong’By Waihiga Mwaura & Wedaeli ChibelushiBBC News, Dakar and LondonSenegal’s president has told the BBC he does not regret delaying this year’s elections, a move that sparked deadly protests.Macky Sall said he did not make the decision alone – he was responding to concerns raised by parliamentarians.After a violent backlash, many feared the relatively stable nation was slipping into political crisis.But the attempt to push the election back by 10 months was blocked by Senegal’s top court.The vote will now take place on Sunday – a month after it was initially due.”I have no apology to make, I have done nothing wrong,” President Sall told the BBC. “All the actions that have been taken have been within the framework of the law and regulations.” Live updates from across AfricaSenegal election crisis: ‘We feel betrayed by President Macky Sall’With just three weeks to go before the 25 February election, Mr Sall announced that it would be delayed, a move that was later approved by parliament.Critics accused Mr Sall of trying to stay on beyond his term of office, which the president denied. He argued that the delay was needed to resolve a dispute over the eligibility of presidential candidates.He says it was opposition politicians who raised these concerns.”If it had not been for the National Assembly which passed the law, which referred it to me, there would not have been the postponement of the election,” he said.Mr Sall’s announcement sparked violent clashes between police and protesters, in which three people died.Many feared that Senegal’s reputation as a bastion of democracy in an unstable region was on the line.Image source, AFPImage caption, The president’s plans to delay the election sparked widespread protestsSenegal has had three peaceful handovers of power since independence and is the only country in mainland West Africa that has not experienced a coup.Mr Sall told the BBC that the recent unrest “shows that there was an information campaign targeting Senegal and its president”, as there is “just one month” between the original election date and when the vote will now take place.He added: “I am truly surprised by the value judgements made about me. If I wanted to stay, I would simply be a candidate. In Africa, everyone can have five terms if they wanted. “If that had been my decision, no-one could have stopped me, except the Senegalese people who vote.”Last week, Senegal’s main opposition leader and one of Mr Sall’s fiercest critics Ousmane Sonko and his party’s presidential candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye were released from prison under a presidential amnesty.Mr Sonko has been prosecuted on a series of charges, all of which he says were politically motivated as a way of excluding him from the election.Because of a conviction of immoral behaviour with a minor, he was barred from contesting and Mr Faye is standing in his place.Some leading opposition candidates were also excluded from the previous election in 2019.But President Sall denied that the charges against his rivals were politically motivated. “It is not because you are a politician that you should not answer for your actions before the law,” he said.He also said Mr Sonko, and others, would have been able to stand if the elections had been delayed for longer.”We would have had the possibility of having amnesty, which would have given them back a certain number of rights,” Mr Sall said.President Sall has served two terms in office – the maximum allowed by Senegal’s constitution.In his interview with the BBC, he repeated his pledge not to overstay.”If the next president is not elected on the 24th [March], I’m leaving on 2 April regardless. 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