UN: Exclusion of Afghan girls from high schools ‘shameful’

The United Nations on Sunday called for Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reopen schools to girls in grades 7-12, calling the anniversary of their exclusion from high school “shameful.”
The U.N. said it is increasingly concerned that the policy, together with other restrictions on basic freedoms, will contribute to a deepening of the country’s economic crisis in the form of greater insecurity, poverty and isolation.
A year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, hard-liners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led government.
Teenage girls are still barred from school and women are required to cover themselves from head to toe in public, with only their eyes showing.
The religious group has failed to deliver on various promises to enable girls’ return to the classroom. The ban targets grades 7-12, primarily impacting girls age 12 to 18.