The Taliban’s National Examination Directorate, responsible for university entrance exams, Kankor, has said that female students will not be allowed to sit the exams for the next academic year.
In a statement on Monday, the directorate said that it had been instructed by the group’s Ministry of Higher Education to only prepare for male students.
The exams body said that it is within its remit to decide on who can sit the exams.
The Taliban had already banned women from education beyond primary age. But female students were allowed to sit the Kankor exams last year, but with restrictions on which subjects they could gain admission in.
Since recapturing power in August 2021, the Taliban, according to the UN, has imposed over 50 restrictions on women and girls.
In its recent report covering the months of May and June, the UN has said that the Taliban has continued to violate human rights, particularly of women and girls.
