According to a letter from the Minister of Higher Education, the Taliban have announced that universities in Afghanistan will be closed to women.

The minister says the move is until further notice. It is expected to come into effect immediately.

It further restricts women’s access to formal education as they were already excluded from secondary education.

Three months ago, thousands of girls and women across Afghanistan took the university entrance exams.

But wide-ranging restrictions were imposed on the subjects they could study, with veterinary science, engineering, business and agriculture taboo and journalism severely curtailed.

After the Taliban takeover last year, universities have introduced single-sex classrooms and entrances.

Female students could only be taught by female professors or old men.

In November, authorities banned women from parks in the capital, Kabul, on the grounds that they did not follow Islamic law.