On the 26th of March, about two dozen girls and women took to the streets, in front of the Education Ministry is Kabul to protest against the Taliban’s decision to shut their secondary schools only hours after re-opening them this week.

Thousands of jubilant girls across Afghanistan had flocked to learning institutions on Wednesday the date the education ministry had set for classes to resume.

But only hours into the first day, the ministry announced a policy reversal that left youngsters saying they felt betrayed and foreign governments expressing outrage.