The Ministry of Higher Education has banned girls from registering for the 1402 (solar year) university entrance exam, according to a letter sent to private universities and higher education institutions.

The letter states that female students cannot enroll until further notice.

Last month the Higher Education Ministry in a letter to higher education institutions decreed that female students are banned from participating in classes.

The decision was followed by another decree from the caretaker government barring women from working at NGOs, which faced strong reactions at the national and international level.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation held a meeting earlier this month to discuss the decision of the Afghan caretaker government about preventing females' access to education and work at the NGOs.

The participants “emphasized that education is a fundamental human right which all individuals must enjoy on the basis of equal opportunity and in a non-discriminatory manner, and not be deprived of,” the OIC said in a statement from that meeting.

Many Islamic countries and organizations, including the OIC, called the ban on women's and girls' access to work and education a contradiction with Islamic law.

The Islamic Emirate said that the ban on female access to education and work at NGOs is temporary and that they are working on plans to pave the way for women’s access to work and education, within Sharia law.