KABUL: Officials at the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) said it will reopen schools for all age groups, both girls and boys, at the beginning of new year (March 21).

Remarks over the return of Afghan boys and girls to schools come as the United States’ special representative to Afghanistan Thomas West told BBC Pashto that the US and international community intends to pay the salaries of school teachers if the Taliban lets the schools open for girls. Officials said they will decide over girls’ schools without considering external pressures, adding that schools were closed temporarily across Afghanistan and will be opened in the coming spring.

“If the international community and US pay the salaries of teachers or not, we, as the government, will open schools in the spring and this decision is not linked with the demands of the US and international community,” said Aziz Ahmad Reyan, head of the Publication and Public Relations of the MoE. “The ministry of higher education is making efforts to open universities very soon,” said Ahmad Taqqi, spokesman of the ministry of higher education. Girls in grades 7-12 were barred from school after the return of the Islamic Emirate to power in Afghanistan in mid August, which drew strong protests internally and abroad.“If the demands of the international community over the reopening of schools are not considered, we will witness a government collapse,” said Khalil Ahmad Kanjo, education expert.