The Taliban’s supreme leader has ordered a ban on women attending nursing and midwifery institutes, closing a rare avenue they had to pursue an education beyond the sixth grade, a human rights group says.
Human Rights Watch says the ban was ordered by Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and conveyed to the Ministry of Public Health on Monday, then communicated to private medical training institutes soon after.
Although the ban has yet to be formally announced, two government officials who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity, because of the matter’s sensitivity, confirmed it.
In addition, several nursing and midwifery students told NPR that this week, they were not allowed to attend classes.
The state of education for girls under Taliban rule
The ban reflects an ongoing Taliban effort to curtail education for girls beyond grade six.
Despite the Taliban’s policies, a small minority of girls and women still have some options. In certain parts of the country, Taliban officials have quietly ignored the ban, allowing a small number of girls to take classes offered by private educational institutes and charities.
And in February 2024, an important loophole opened for women. Officials in the Ministry of Public Health successfully lobbied the hardline Taliban leaders to allow women to take nursing and midwifery courses in a handful of mostly private training institutes and learning centers, according to Ashley Jackson, who closely tracks developments in Afghanistan as co-director of the Center on Armed Groups, a think-tank based in Switzerland.
One motivation for this February decision was that in some provinces, the Taliban does not allow women to seek treatment from male medical professionals.
“This new decree — banning women from nursing and midwifery training — will result in unnecessary pain, misery, sickness and death for the women forced to go without health care,” said Sahar Fetrat of Human Rights Watch, in a statement.
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