As schools above the sixth grade remain closed for girls in Afghanistan, teachers have been pleading with the Taliban to change their stance on allowing them to attend classes. In a call-in program broadcast by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, Masooda Khurram Wardak, a school principal in Kabul, said on December 8 that teachers could put up with the absence of school supplies for students and even the requirement for girls to wear Islamic head scarves, but she urged authorities to "let girls get an education so they are not left behind in this world." The Taliban has banned girls and women from getting an education despite originally pledging not to do this when they retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after ousting an internationally-backed government that had ruled for two decades. Call-in programs produced by Radio Azadi continue to reach listeners in Afghanistan, despite the Taliban takeover.
