Teary-eyed students, teachers console each other as Taliban bans Afghan women from medical courses (WATCH)

Women training as midwives and nurses in Afghanistan were reportedly ordered not to return to classes in the morning - effectively closing off their last route to further education in the country. Although the ban is yet to be formally announced.

According to a report by BBC, five separate institutions across Afghanistan have confirmed that the Taliban had instructed them to close until further notice, with videos shared online showing students, teachers crying at the news.

Emotional footage surfaced on social media showing Afghan female medical students and their instructor in tears, consoling each other after the Taliban banned them from continuing their studies. The new directive shuts women out of medicine—the last field still open to them.

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The closure appears to be in line with the group's wider policy on female education, which has seen teenage girls unable to access secondary and higher education since August 2021.

The state of education for girls under Taliban rule

The recent ban reflects an ongoing Taliban effort to curtail education for girls beyond grade six.

Afghanistan already has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with a report released last year noting 620 women were dying per 100,000 live births.

Following the Taliban's return to power in 2021, authorities barred girls from secondary and higher education, drawing international condemnation and accusations of "gender apartheid" from the United Nations. Health training institutes had been one of the few remaining educational opportunities for women, who now form the majority of students in these programs.