The Ministry of Education rang the new academic year's bell on Wednesday, on the first of Hamal, which is the first day of the solar year 1403, but girls were not present in schools.

The acting Minister of Education, Sayed Habibullah Agha, during the ceremony to ring in the new academic year, said that the Islamic Emirate is not opposed to modern sciences, and both religious and modern education are needed in the country.

The acting Minister of Education did not mention the presence of female students and the reopening of girls' schools during this event.

The acting Minister said: "If we want worldly or otherworldly progress, if we keep ourselves from worldly dangers or from the dangers of the hereafter, we preserve ourselves through the blessing of knowledge; but it must be quality knowledge."

The Islamic Emirate's deputy prime minister for administrative affairs, Abdul Salam Hanafi, during the beginning of the new academic year's ceremony, said that education is the foundation of the country's self-sufficiency, and the Islamic Emirate is striving to extend education to remote parts of the country.

According to Hanafi, last year 1.2 million new students were enrolled in schools.
Abdul Salam Hanafi said: "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Ministry of Education will endeavor to expand education and training to all remote areas, to districts and villages."

Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the acting Head of the National Examination Authority, who was present at the ceremony, said: "Whenever the issue of protecting the system arises, our modern field [the field of modern sciences] must be strengthened. If not, the system will be lost, and we cannot prevent a third occupation."

A number of students, who are pleased with the start of the new academic year, again emphasized the reopening of girls' school doors.

"Girls have the right to study, and we hope that the day will come when our sisters can also receive an education and serve our country," a student told TOLOnews.

According to the information of the Ministry of Education, during the solar year 1402, more than 90 schools, over 12 formal schools, and more than 5,000 village schools were established in the country.

Furthermore, officials from the Ministry of Education said that last year more than 55,000 acres of land that were for education purposes were reclaimed from usurpers in various provinces.