In a show of solidarity with the female students protesting the Taliban’s ban on women’s education, male students at Afghanistan’s Nangarhar University walked out from their exams. The male professors too resigned from their position to join the protest.
Pamir News shared a video on Twitter on Wednesday with the caption, “Male university students are abandoning & walking out of their exam in protest against Taliban’s decision to ban female students from university education. Several male professors have also resigned in protest so far. #Taliban #Afghanistan”.
In the latest crackdown on women's rights and freedoms, the Taliban's higher education ministry on Tuesday announced that they have banned women from pursuing education at universities with immediate effect. The announcement ignited protests in universities across Afghanistan and drew international condemnation.
Pamir News also shared videos reportedly taken at Kabul University. The media outlet wrote, “Kabul University female students are expelled from the university’s dormitory. Helpless students can be heard crying. #Afghanistan #Taliban”.
Videos shared from Nangarhar Medical Faculty in Jalalabad and Kandahar University show male students demonstrating with placards against the Taliban.
Commenting on the video, a Twitter user wrote, “Educated women are kryptonite to fascism. The fascists will do anything to prevent women from being educated. The men who are walking out of exams are risking everything.”
Another user wrote, "Appalled by the banning of woman from being educated in Afghanistan. Well done male counterparts for supporting the females in this stance. Shame on the wrong doers in denouncing Islamic principles of justice and equality. Knowledge is power, it is a right for those who believe."
Women were also banned from entering parks and gyms and from travelling without a male relative.