Kabul University Prof Protests Taliban ban on Women’s Education, Tears Up Diplomas on TV

Protesting the Taliban’s hard-line strictures against women’s education, a Kabul University professor tore up his diplomas on live TV saying that he doesn’t “accept this education” if his “mother and sister can’t study”.

After seizing power last August, the Taliban have brutally clamped down on women in several ways, including a ban on returning to secondary schools in March and university education this month.

In a viral clip from the TV show, the professor shows his diplomas and then tears them one by one.

“From today, I don’t need these diplomas anymore because this country is no place for an education. If my sister & my mother can’t study, then I DON’T accept this education,” he says in the video, tweeted by Shabnam Nasimi, former policy adviser to the minister for Afghan resettlement and minister for refugees.

“Astonishing scenes as a Kabul university professor destroys his diplomas on live TV in Afghanistan,” Nasimi tweeted along with the video.

Last week, minister for higher education Neda Mohammad Nadeem issued a letter to all government and private universities banning university education for Afghan women. “You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” Nadeem wrote.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) had termed the ban a “shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan”.

“The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don’t respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,” HRW said in a statement.

The US state department condemned the Taliban’s “indefensible decision to ban women from universities” as well.

After the Taliban takeover, women have been barred from working in most sectors, require a male guardian for long-distance travel and have to cover their faces in public.