SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: December 02, 2024

Attack Types: Other

Institution(s):Multiple Institutions

Region & Country:Southern Asia | Afghanistan

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On December 2, 2024, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a directive banning women from studying at medical schools in Afghanistan.

The directive was verbally communicated to the heads of all medical schools during a meeting in Kabul and went into effect on December 3. On December 4, women reported being told that their medical classes had been temporarily suspended until further notice. Training as midwives and nurses was the last higher educational option available to women in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned all other forms of higher education in December 2022 (see report). At the time of the ban, around 35,000 women studied at public and private Afghan health institutes, according to the Ministry of Health.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about government orders that deny women the right to education and academic freedom, which are expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a party. State authorities have a responsibility to provide and protect the right to education and academic freedom and must refrain from policies that restrict the same. Efforts to bar students from higher education on the basis of gender undermine academic freedom, the right to education, and democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/12/1157866
https://www.khaama.com/ban-on-womens-education-in-medical-institutes-in-afghanistan/
https://www.firstpost.com/world/were-shaken-taliban-bans-women-from-pursuing-health-courses-in-afghanistan-13841311.html
https://amu.tv/142601/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2024/12/04/afghanistan-taliban-medical-education-women-girls/8634060e-b233-11ef-9d23-e5faa22ad216_story.html
https://www.voanews.com/a/global-outcry-grows-over-new-taliban-decree-targeting-afghan-women/7887435.html
https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-bans-women-from-medical-training-at-private-institutes-/7890220.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy3l1035nlo