In Kabul, universities deserted on the first day of the Taliban single-sex

Anything but a normal start: summoned by the new Taliban power to impose non-mixed classes and the niqab on female students, private universities in Kabul were largely deserted on Monday, September 6, without news from many students.

To discover

• EXCLUSIVE - With the new masters of Kabul, our report at the heart of the Taliban power

Read alsoIn Kabul, these Afghan women who challenge the Taliban

"

There is nobody, no students

", commented in the morning to AFP the guards of two establishments, while two others announced a very low attendance.

"

Most of our students are not here,

" replies Reza Ramazan, professor of computer science at Gharjistan University in Kabul.

"

We do not even know if they are still in the country,

" he observes, educated Afghans having taken the path of exile by tens of thousands since the sudden return to power of the Taliban.

As for the others, "

they fear the Taliban and no longer know what their future will hold

", after two decades of increased schooling.

Women out of sight of men

The day before, the Taliban, who once prohibited women from studying, had announced that they would now be admitted to private universities - nothing has yet been announced from the public side - but under strict conditions. The students are therefore strongly invited to wear a loose, long black tunic covering their hair (abaya) and a veil that only allows the eyes to be seen (niqab). And to study out of sight of men: in a class just for them if they are over 15, in a class where they are separated from men if they are under 15.

Some institutions have complied, such as the Faculty of Economics of Ibn-e Sina, which has installed in its classes, facing the teacher, a curtain separating the boys from the girls.

"

These decisions were imposed on us, we could not oppose them

", explained to AFP Jalil Tadjil, the spokesperson of the university, specifying that his establishment had also arranged two separate entrances for men and the women.

But very few students came Monday "

because of the uncertain climate

," he admits.

Measures that are difficult to apply

Even low attendance in the five floors of passageways that surround the patio under the large glass roof of the Kabuli University of Gharjistan, where a large photo of four students, in suits and ties, winners of an inter-university computer competition, sits enthroned.

"

Of our 1000 students, less than 200 are there,

" Noor Ali Rahmani, director of the establishment, told AFP.

During the meeting at the ministry on Sunday, his university clearly expressed its disagreement with the Taliban, he said.

“

We said that we do not accept (the niqab) because it is too difficult to impose, our students wear the headscarf (hijab), not the niqab.

We also told them that this was not what the Quran said.

"

Read alsoAfghanistan: female judges fear the revenge of former Taliban prisoners

The country's new teachers also want only women, or "

old

"

men

whose morals have been scrutinized, be allowed to teach students.

But when can a teacher be considered old, above all morals?

Faced with this puzzle which seems surreal to him, Noor Ali Rahmani shakes his head, disillusioned.

What to do ?

He wishes that the international community, traditional economic support of this poor country, "

put pressure on the Taliban

" so that they soften their policy, "

otherwise our students will not accept it, and we will have to close the university

".

One of its computer science students, Amir Hussain, 28, confirms that the arrival of the Taliban has significantly clouded the prospects for students, but without predicting the closure of the university.

"

Those who can go abroad will go,

" he adds.

“

But the others will have to follow the rules, they will have no choice, otherwise they will be punished.

"

Read alsoAfghanistan: why the Panchir is the historic bastion of armed resistance to the Taliban

Other voices wanted to be more positive, seeing more of the half-full glass and the progress the Taliban made in accepting women's education. “

Today I spoke to students, they are happy to go to university, even veiled. This opening up of the Taliban is essential progress

, ”tweeted Zuhra Bahman, who has been running educational programs for women for years in the country.