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Agence France-Presse

Afghans voiced outrage on social media on Wednesday over the Taliban’s ban on women attending university, using the hashtag #LetHerLearn – one of the only ways people can still protest in the country.
Affected students poured their hearts out on Twitter and Facebook, lamenting how their dreams had been shattered by the announcement late on Tuesday that tertiary education was now off-limits to women.
“The eighth semester is over and I have just four exams left,” Kabul University student Zamzama Ghazal posted on her Facebook account with the trending hashtag.
“God! Don’t take this last hope from me.”
Taliban ban university education for Afghan women
The ban comes less than three months after thousands of girls and young women sat university entrance exams across the country, aspiring to continue their education.
“We came to the university at 6:30 in the morning, the boys were allowed to enter and they pointed guns at us and told us to go home,” Tamana Aref tweeted.
It was the latest encroachment of women’s rights that have gradually been eroded since the hardline Islamist group returned to power in August last year.
“I knew this would happen one day,” wrote Hadia Rahmani on Facebook.
“One day even going out on the streets and roads would be forbidden for women until further notice.”

Social media was filled with video clips of university students crying in despair outside campus gates after being denied entry by armed Taliban guards.
Samim Arif, once a deputy spokesman for former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, tweeted about his family’s distress at the news his sister would not be allowed to pursue her engineering degree.
“My 18 yo sister Wurranga worked extremely hard to make it to engineering school,” he wrote.
“Now Taliban banned her from attending school. Her dreams are shattered, our family is devastated.”


Many users employed the hashtags #LetHerLearn and #LetAfghanGirlsLearn to express their support for the right of Afghan girls and women to education.
“Acquiring knowledge is a must. There is no doubt that women make up half of society,” tweeted Rashid Khan, the former captain of the national cricket team and one of the country’s few truly international sports stars.
Some users shared images of male students from the faculty of medicine at Nangarhar University walking out of their exams in sympathy with their female classmates who were not allowed in.

A mathematics professor in Kabul also took a stand.
Obaidullah Wardak announced his resignation on Facebook, stating he did not want to continue teaching “where girls are not allowed to study”.
Others tried to remember happier times.
Tweeting a photo from a previous graduation ceremony of women, Arifa Iran wrote:
“Talibs tears flow at such scenes when they see Afghans being educated.”


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Afghanistan

#LetHerLearn: Afghans use social media to protest against university ban for women

Afghan women weep outside Edrak University in Kabul, after Taliban security forces on Wednesday enforced a higher education ban for women by blocking their access to universities. Photo: AP

An Afghan female student stands in front of the entrance gate of Kabul University on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Taliban security personnel stand guard at the entrance gate of a university in Jalalabad on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Heartbreak as Taliban orders Afghan girls home, hours after schools reopen

Girls arrive at their school in Kabul on Wednesday. Hours later, they were ordered to go home. Photo: AFP 

Girls attend a class after their school reopened in Kabul on Wednesday. Hours later, girls were sent home. Photo: AFP

A girl studies at her home in Kunduz province. Photo: AFP

Afghan women and girls still trapped and suffering despite Taliban’s promises

Burqa clad-women in Herat,  Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

Afghan women pass a Taliban fighter in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: AP 

Taliban orders Afghan women to cover up from head to toe in public

Women wearing niqab garments sit on a motorbike with a relative in Kabul on May 7. Photo: AFP

A burka-clad woman with her face covered walks with a girl along a street in Kandahar, Afghanistan on May 7. Photo: AFP

Khalid Hanafi, acting minister for the Taliban’s vice and virtue ministry centre, during a ceremony to announce the decree for Afghan women’s dress code in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 7. Photo: AFP

After a year of Taliban rule, Afghan women are systematically disappearing from public life

An Afghan woman leaves an underground school which she attends with her daughter, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 30. Photo: AP 

The women and girls of Afghanistan need hope for the future after Taliban takeover

Afghan women approach posters of Taliban leaders and flags in Kabul on August 25. Photo: AP

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Russia & Central Asia


Social media filled with clips of distressed students outside campus gates, hashtags such as #LetAfghanGirlsLearn in support of Afghan women’s rights to education
Some male students walk out of exams in show of solidarity, while a professor resigns saying he does not want to continue teaching ‘where girls are not allowed to study’



Social media filled with hashtags such as #LetAfghanGirlsLearn in support of Afghan women’s rights to education, clips of distressed students outside campus gates.
