The final round of this year’s university entrance examinations in Afghanistan took place on Friday, notably without any female participants, as the Taliban barred women from attending.
Female high school graduates have voiced their dismay, stating that they have been stripped of their basic rights in their own country. They have called on the United Nations and the international community to heed the pleas of Afghan women and girls.
Many of these young women, some with tears in their eyes, expressed the profound difficulty of enduring their current situation. For the second consecutive year, the Taliban prohibited female students from participating in any round of the university entrance exams.
Friday’s final examination round included high school graduates who studied abroad, absentees, 14th-grade graduates, and graduates of religious schools.
“The sadness is immense because we were suddenly stopped from studying. We lost hope for education; it felt like moving from one world to another, a dark world, like falling from the sky to the ground,” one high school graduate lamented. “We don’t have the right to study, go out, or work; it feels like being in prison for several years, which is very hard.”
In response to the Taliban’s ban, some girls and women have urged the United Nations to address their plight. They criticized the Taliban, emphasizing that they had dedicated 12 years to their education, only to see their dreams shattered in a single day.
“I prepared for the university entrance exam for the past two years, but unfortunately, I couldn’t take the exam,” said Maryam, a 12th-grade graduate. “Today was also the exam day, but girls were not allowed to take it, and all our efforts were wasted.”
Some examination participants criticized the Taliban, stating that the regime is hindering the progress of women and girls. “They have a mindset that is afraid of the progress of women. They have been given such a mentality to imprison women and girls at home,” one applicant said.
“Our expectation from the Taliban is to allow girls to take exams, study, and become the future makers of the country,” another applicant added.
According to figures released by Afghanistan’s National Examination Authority, now run by the Taliban, 150,000 examination forms were distributed to applicants in Kabul and other provinces. The agency announced that the capacity for students being recruited to higher education, semi-higher education, and night shift faculty stands at around 67,000 individuals.
With the ban on girls’ participation, it has become evident that all these preparations were intended solely for boys.
