Universities in Kabul wore a deserted look on the first day of the new session of the year on Monday as the Taliban’s strict rules on dress code and segregation of male and female students have to be implemented in educational institutions.  

The Taliban have said that the rules would not be as stringent as those imposed in their earlier regime, when women could not venture out of their homes without a male escort and girls were barred from going to school.

This time around, the Islamist hardline group has allowed women to go for university classes if they wear an abaya, a head-to-toe robe, and a niqab which is a face veil. They also cannot be in the same class as men.

"Our students don't accept this and we will have to close the university," an AFP report cited Noor Ali Rahmani, the director of Gharjistan University in Kabul as saying.

"Our students wear the hijab, not the niqab," he added.

The Taliban education authority issued a long list of rules on Sunday which also state that women must only be taught by other women, or old men, and use a women-only entrance.

They also have to finish their lessons five minutes earlier than men to ensure that they do not meet outside.

For some women students, however, it was a relief that at least they would still be able to attend university.

Zuhra Bahman, who runs a scholarship programme for women in Afghanistan, said on social media she had spoken to some of the students.

"They are happy to go back to university, albeit in hijab," she said.

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