Keputusan itu dibuat walaupun mereka sebelum ini tidak dibenarkan bersekolah sejak bekas kumpulan pemberontak berkenaan mengambil alih pemerintahan negara tahun lalu.
Menurut dokumen yang dikeluarkan itu, remaja perempuan Afghanistan dibenarkan mengambil peperiksaan berkenaan minggu ini.
Berdasarkan dua dokumen dikeluarkan Kementerian Pendidikan Taliban yang diperoleh The Associated Press, keputusan itu terpakai kepada 31 daripada 34 wilayah di Afghanistan yang mana cuti sekolah musim sejuk bermula akhir bulan ini.Ketua Jabatan Pendidikan Kabul, Ehsanullah Kitab, berkata peperiksaan akan berlangsung Rabu.
Beliau bagaimanapun tidak memberikan butiran lain dan tidak dapat mengesahkan jumlah remaja perempuan yang akan dibenarkan menduduki peperiksaan itu.
Salah satu dokumen dari Jabatan Pendidikan Kabul memaklumkan peperiksaan akan berlangsung dari jam 10 pagi hingga 1 tengah hari dan diadakan di 31 wilayah Afghanistan.
Tiga wilayah yang dikecualikan - Kandahar, Helmand dan Nimroz - mempunyai jadual waktu yang berbeza untuk tahun persekolahan dan peperiksaan tamat pengajian sekolah menengah biasanya berlangsung di sana kemudian.
"Ini tidak masuk akal. Kami menghabiskan sepanjang tahun di bawah ketegangan dan tekanan, malah tidak membaca walau satu halaman buku teks.
"Bagaimana kami mampu mengambil peperiksaan selepas setahun setengah Taliban menutup pintu sekolah," kata pelajar wanita berusia 18 tahun dari Kabul, Najela.
Beliau kini berada di gred 12 dan layak untuk menduduki peperiksaan berkenaan.
Kesemua pelajar dan guru wanita mereka perlu memakai tudung di bawah kod pakaian Taliban dan telefon bimbit diharamkan ketika peperiksaan.
Kanak-kanak perempuan yang tidak dapat hadir atau gagal dalam peperiksaan pada Rabu depan akan dibenarkan mengambil semula ujian pada pertengahan Mac, selepas cuti musim sejuk.
Layanan Taliban terhadap wanita dan gadis di Afghanistan telah mencetuskan kritikan yang hebat.
Awal bulan ini, sepasukan pakar Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) berkata, ia mungkin jenayah terhadap kemanusiaan dan harus disiasat serta didakwa di bawah undang-undang antarabangsa, namun dakwaan itu ditolak Taliban. - AP
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan girls will be allowed to take their high school graduation exams this week, an official and documents from the Taliban government indicated Tuesday — even though they have been banned from classrooms since the former insurgents took over the country last year.
According to two documents from the Taliban ministry of education, obtained by The Associated Press, the decision applies to 31 out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces where the winter school break starts in late December.
Ehsanullah Kitab, head of the Kabul education department, said the exams would take place on Wednesday. He provided no other details and it was not clear how many teenage girls would be able to take the exam.
One of the documents, from the Kabul education department, said the exams would last from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A second document, signed by Habibullah Agha, the education minister who took office in September, said the tests would be held in 31 Afghan provinces. The three excluded provinces — Kandahar, Helmand and Nimroz — have a different timetable for the school year and high school graduation exams typically take place there later.
"This is ridiculous," said 18-year-old Najela from Kabul, giving only her first name for fear of reprisals. She would now be in twelfth grade and eligible for the exam. "We spent a whole year under tension and stress and haven't read a single page of our textbooks."
"How can we possibly take an exam after a year and a half that the Taliban have kept school doors closed," she added.
The students and their female teachers will all have to wear the hijab, or headscarf, under the Taliban dress code for women, and cellphones are banned during the exam. Girls who cannot attend or those who fail Wednesday's exam would be allowed to retake the test in mid-March, after the winter vacation.
The Taliban treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan has come under heavy criticism. Earlier this month, a team of U.N. experts said it may amount to a crime against humanity and should be investigated and prosecuted under international law, an allegation rejected by the Taliban.
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