With the Kankor university entrance exam results announced on Saturday, many Afghan social media users expressed disappointment as no girl’s name is seen in the list of the top 10 Kankor scorers, while girls have consistently topped the exam before the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
The top 10 students on the Kankor entrance exam 2022 are “all-male,” similar to the Taliban government in Afghanistan, while two brilliant Afghan girls, Shamsia Alizada and Selgai Baran, won the top places on the Kankor exams in 2020 and 2021, prior to the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan.
The results of the Kankor exam 2022 were released on Saturday, November 5, by the National Examination Authority, which the Taliban govern. Suleiman, Mohammad Shabir, Hedayat, Mohammad Zia, Mohammad Aziz, Mansoor Bek, Sayed Mohsen, Najibullah, Mustafa, and Mohammad Abdullah received the first through tenth scores, respectively, according to the results that were made public.
Afghan users on social media have voiced their discontentment that girls were sharply removed from academic sectors, especially the list of entrance exam winners after the results were announced in addition to a list that features 10 of the top candidates from the 2022 entrance exam, all of whom are boys.
The writer and one of the users, Afsana Wahidyar, wrote on her Facebook page, “I wish success to all these students. However, the cloud in my eyes began to pour when I looked at this list (which contained the names of the top 10 students for the entrance exam).” She continued by stating that Afghan girls were forced to stay at home and that attending school and studying had become their dream.
How can you expect girls to take exams with enthusiasm and receive outstanding scores when girls are banned from schools for any pretext, a journalist named Nilofar Langar wrote on her Facebook page?
Langar added that despite the disappointment, even if girls made it to the top 10 “do the mullahs allow a girl to come out on top and be an inspiration for the girls?”
This comes as girls ranked top in the previous years’ entrance tests. The top student in 2021’s national exam was Selgai Baran, who scored 352 points, making her the top scorer. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Baran was granted a scholarship from Turkey despite being accepted into her desired study program at Kabul Medical University.
Shamsia Alizada also achieved the highest score (353 points) and took first place in the 2020 exam. Although she was also accepted into the Kabul Medical University’s medical program, she moved to Turkey to pursue her education.
