Afghan training centres say women to be barred from health studies

KABUL: Senior employees at several institutions offering nursing and midwifery courses in Afghanistan on Tuesday said women would be barred from classes, following an edict by the Taliban supreme leader.

Health officials met with directors of education institutes on Monday in the capital Kabul to inform them of the ruling, an official from the public health ministry who was not authorised to speak to the media told AFP.

“There is no official letter but the directors of institutes were informed in a meeting that women and girls can´t study anymore in their institutes,” he said.

“They were not provided with any details and justification and were just told of the order of the supreme leader and were asked to implement it.”

The manager of an institute who attended the meeting and asked not to be named for fear of reprisal said dozens of managers were in attendance.

A senior employee of another centre told AFP his boss had been at a separate meeting with health officials on Tuesday after confusion about the rule.

The employee said institutes had been given 10 days to hold final exams.

Some managers petitioned the ministry for clarity, while others carried on as normal in the absence of a written order. “What are we supposed to do with just 10 percent of our students?” one manager said.