「私たちが悪いことをしたの？」 タリバン、女子教育再び停止

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタンの首都カブールで、アティヤ・アジミさんは、一晩中かばんの中身を詰め直していた。あすはイスラム主義組織タリバンが実権を掌握して以来、初めて学校に戻ることができるので、興奮していた。（写真は再開したカブールの女子校で授業を受ける生徒）
　しかし、アジミさんの興奮は瞬く間にしぼんだ。
　カブールのザルゴナ女学校が再開してからわずか数時間後、１２年生の授業を受けている最中に、タリバンが女子教育再開を取り消したことを知った。「次の命令があるまで来ないように言われた」
　アジミさんは「私たちが何か悪いことをしたの？ どうして女性や少女がこんな目に遭わなければいけないの？ 授業を再開してほしい」と訴えた。「昨日は学校に戻れると思って夜も眠れなかったのに」
　アフガン各地では約１年にわたって、女子の中等教育が停止されている。
　タリバンが実権を掌握した昨年８月は、新型コロナウイルスの影響で全学校が閉鎖されていた。だが、２か月後の再開時に通学を許可されたのは男子と小学校に通う女子だけで、女子中等教育は大部分の地域で禁止された。
　教育省は、教育年度の始まりに当たる２３日に合わせ、女子の中等教育を再開すると発表していた。
　だが、わずか１１時間での方針転換は、生徒や親、教師にさえも衝撃を与えた。
　４人の娘がいるアミナ・ハイダリさんは「タリバンの声明はすべてが単なるプロパガンダだ。学校をもう一度再開するとは思えない」と語った。
　２３日朝は各地で、かばんや教科書を手に登校し、満面の笑みで友達とおしゃべりする女子生徒の姿が見られた。
　カブールに位置する国内最大規模の女子校の一つ、ラビア・バルキでは、校門を通ることさえできなかった。入れてくれるよう嘆願する生徒もいた。
　２人の娘を連れて来た女性は「学校に入れてもらえなかった。娘たちがかわいそうだ」と語った。ヒジャブ（頭と首を覆うスカーフ）を着用した２人の娘は泣いていた。
　１１年生の女子生徒は「ヒジャブ着用などタリバンが求めるすべてに応えようと私たちは思っている。私たちが教育を受けるのを止めないでほしい」と訴えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/03/25-12:56）

Atiya Azimi was up all night packing and repacking her bag, feverish at returning to school for the first time since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
The joy was shockingly brief.
In the middle of a lesson, just hours after the school reopened, she learned the hardline Islamists had revoked permission for girls to study.
Suddenly we were told to leave until another order is issued, said Azimi, who was returning to grade 12 at Zarghona Girls School in the capital Kabul.
What have we done wrong? Why should women and girls face this situation? I ask the Islamic Emirate to start our classes.
I did not sleep the whole night thinking about going back to school again, she told AFP.
Secondary school age girls have been out of education for around a year in many provinces.
Schools were first closed under the previous US-backed government as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, and after the Taliban took power the new rulers reopened all schools for boys.
But girls were allowed to return only to primary schools and were banned from secondary institutions in most areas.
The Islamists claimed that schools needed to be adapted so girls and boys could be segregated, despite the vast majority in conservative Afghanistan already operating separate classrooms.
The Taliban's education ministry days ago announced that girls' secondary schools would reopen for the start of the new academic year on Wednesday.
But an 11th hour U-turn by the Taliban leadership was a devastating blow for students, parents and even teachers.
Our hopes were high but now they are shattered, said Muthahera Arefi, 17, turning around from a Kabul school to head home.
Amina Haidari, a mother of four daughters, was frustrated with how events unfolded.
I think for girls living in the shadow of the Taliban, it is a total mess and waste of time, said Haidari, who herself lost her job in the election commission which was scrapped by the Taliban soon after they stormed back to power.
All the statements that the Taliban make are just propaganda... We don't believe this government will reopen schools.
Across the country, groups of jubilant girls had arrived at schools on Wednesday morning carrying their bags and books, greeting their former classmates with grins and chatter.
Teacher Alia Hakimi, at Tajwar Sultana Girls School in Kabul, said the decision will leave students weak and stressed.
At Kabul's Rabia Balkhi, one of the largest in the country, girls were not able to even make it through the school gates.
They denied us entry into the school. It's heartbreaking for my girls, said a mother who asked not to be named.
One of her two daughters, both with a hijab covering their hair, was brimming with tears.
I was looking forward to meeting my friends again, to be together again, said the girl, who also asked not to be named.
Some girls even pleaded to the guards to allow them entry into the premises.
We are ready to fulfil all conditions of the Taliban, including wearing hijabs or anything but we urge them not to stop our education, said a girl from class 11.