New Delhi

The Taliban didn’t face resistance in its last tenure as Afghanistan’s rulers but this time as they seek to firm up their control on Kabul, situation is different.

Twenty years of life without the Taliban has empowered the Afghan people to speak up and fight for their rights and it’s the reason why the Taliban’s government in the making is not finding it easy  to get a total control in the situation.

Women teachers say they are ready to die for girls' right to education after the Taliban have ordered segregation of the universities for men and women.

A group of female teachers told a British newspaper that they had asked members of the Taliban questions about this decision.

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Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen said last week that schools would remain open and that girls and women, as teachers, would go to school as students. During the first period of Taliban rule, from 1996 to 2001, women and girls were banned from going to school.

In Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, the Taliban have reportedly asked universities to separate men and women. The Taliban are also said to have demanded that only female teachers be allowed to teach the women while men would do the same for boys.

"After the return of the Taliban, we fear that we will lose all our rights, but the Taliban are saying that they will not stop us from going to school and will not take our rights," said a Afghan woman teacher.

The founder of Afghanistan's only All Girls Boarding School has revealed that he has made a shocking decision to burn the educational records of all his students.” I am burning everything not with the intention of destroying the records of students but to protect them and their families.” She said.

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Penpath volunteers said the Taliban had agreed to allow some girls to study at home, although they said it would affect only 30 per cent of female students. "It's a very uncertain time, we have to be optimistic," he said. ۔

Afghan teachers say they are calling on the West to increase diplomatic pressure on the Taliban in the hope that they can change the course. “Despite all these threats and warnings, we will speak out, especially for education, for our rights; we will fight,” said one teacher.

"We will never give up and never go back," said one teacher, adding that "there is no more fear and more silence, but we need the support of the international community, especially the media." Another teacher in southern Kandahar said: "We will not stop our work and will not run away from the number of Haiyan.