admin 
(MANEND NEWS): Women faced numerous obstacles in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, whether it was a career or an education. Back in the 1990s, when the Taliban took over most of Afghanistan, girls were denied education and prohibited from stepping outside their houses without a male relative.
About two decades later, things remain somewhat the same. When the Taliban swept into power for the second time in August 2021, it was thought that they would be more flexible in their views to be accepted by the international community.
Two issues that the world was keenly looking into were the Taliban’s treatment of minorities and women’s education. As far as women’s education is concerned, the situation does not paint a rosy picture.
The recent decision of the Taliban-led government to ban women from seeking higher education received worldwide condemnation. Its effects were not felt in Afghanistan alone. Pakistan too felt the shock.
The reason: a considerable number of Pakistani girls were enrolled in medical colleges in Afghanistan. Most of them had taken admitted before the Taliban came into power, but the ban clamped down by them left these students with no choice but to return to their country. Some of them were in their third year before they were expelled from universities.
Pakistan criticised the Taliban’s ban on university education for women, with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari expressing his disappointment.
A total of 105 students were pursuing medical education in various universities in Afghanistan, out of whom 50 were from the Malakand division.
With their futures at stake, these affected students appealed to the government to accommodate them in medical universities in Pakistan. Some of them even reached Islamabad and staged a protest outside the National Press Club, demanding that they be adjusted to universities here. Similar protests were staged in Swat.
The affected students want admission on a humanitarian basis. But it is not that simple. The majority of them have not cleared the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) and did not get a clearance from the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) before getting admission in Afghanistan. This has put them in a precarious situation.
According to an official of the PMC, students who are unable to get admission to Pakistani medical universities move to other countries without letting the commission know.
He said there was a procedure to get admission to local educational institutions. Students intending to move back to Pakistan have to appear in the National Examination Board.
Getting space in Pakistani medical colleges would be difficult for these students if we go by the rules. But in their cases, the government should think beyond the rules. There is a need to come up with a solution that is beneficial to these students, who had spent years in pursuit of their dreams of becoming doctors. Let’s not shatter their dream.