Over the past three years, the Taliban have imposed educational bans and significantly altered the curricula of schools and universities. Rather than focusing on developing a modern education system suited to the global job market, the group has concentrated on establishing schools and issuing credentials to its clerics and fighters. Currently, the Taliban are constructing a large jihadist school in each province, each accommodating 1,000 students, with plans to build three religious schools in every district. According to recent reports from the Taliban Ministry of Education, the foundation stones for 14 new Madrassas have been laid in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghazni, Balkh, Panjshir, and Paktika provinces in the past two months. Findings indicate that these religious schools are teaching military techniques and fundamentalist ideologies to their students, aiming to perpetuate their cycle of violence and power.
The Taliban have intensified their efforts to build religious and jihadist schools and recruit students. According to the group’s statements, 14 religious and jihadist schools have been established in six provinces within the last two months, including three in Panjshir, three in Balkh, and the rest in Paktika, Ghazni, and Badakhshan.
However, there is no information available about the teaching methods and curricula of these religious schools. Additionally, Taliban officials are verbally instructed to withhold information about these jihadist schools, and no monitoring bodies exist to report on the education conditions within them.
Reliable sources in the Taliban Ministry of Education say the group is continuously establishing religious schools in rural areas and districts but has instructed the Islamic Education Department not to provide information on the establishment of these schools and the number of their graduates.
Previously, the Hasht-e Subh Daily obtained information indicating that the Taliban have repurposed at least 25 girls’ secondary and high school buildings in the provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar into religious schools and Darul Uloom (seminaries). Furthermore, it is reported that around 2,150 female students in Badakhshan alone have been enrolled in these religious schools and seminaries.
Over the past three years, the Taliban have also used these religious schools to commit sexual abuse and alter the mindset of girls. Reports reveal that Qari Abdul Basir, the head of a Taliban jihadist school in Fayzabad, Badakhshan, sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl, who has since been detained by the group’s intelligence.
The Hasht-e Subh Daily had previously reported that girls enrolled in Taliban religious schools in the province of Kunduz had adopted extremist ideas and changed their views towards the Taliban. One student even expressed her willingness to become the third or fourth wife of a Taliban fighter. Sources familiar with the situation in religious schools suggest that the Taliban use the closure of girls’ schools and the opening of new Madrassas to brainwash girls as well.
Additionally, in Badakhshan, the Taliban have pressured some Ismaili sect followers to convert their Islamic sect and have forced them to send their children to the group’s newly established religious schools for this purpose.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Education, in coordination with the group’s “Jihadist Schools Department,” have conducted level determination tests for graduates of religious schools and Taliban fighters with educational backgrounds across the country. These individuals have been awarded bachelor’s and master’s degrees. According to information released by Taliban-controlled educational and training agencies, a test was conducted for 50,000 graduates of religious schools across 34 provinces. Recently, the Taliban Ministry of Higher Education published a list of clerics and fighters in Ghor province, showing that one cleric simultaneously graduated with a master’s degree while also succeeding in the teacher training entrance exam in July.
Previously, the Taliban announced that they have conducted examinations for graduates of religious studies at various levels: Hadith (Alamiya), Khor (Aliya), and Khamesa. According to the Taliban, individuals who complete the “Alamiya” level successfully receive a master’s degree, those who finish the “Aliya” level get a bachelor’s degree, and those who complete the “Khamesa” level are awarded a diploma equivalent to the completion of 12th grade.
Concerns about the expansion of school construction and recruitment in these religious institutions arise as the Taliban Ministry of Higher Education recently announced the results of exams for 913 students who participated in the “Taliban and Fazilan” examination in Ghor province. According to the Ministry, these clerics in Ghor alone receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Meanwhile, the Taliban Ministry of Higher Education has conducted exams for 13,000 students across 13 provinces in the “Khamesa and Alamiya” levels and is providing them with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The group states that those who receive these degrees can work in government offices, including the judiciary.
Findings from the Hasht-e Subh Daily in the province of Ghor reveal that some individuals deemed deserving of a master’s degree by the Taliban have been admitted to the Gore Higher Education Institute based on the results of the 1403 (2024) entrance exam, while many have failed. However, the Taliban have designated the educational level of most of them as bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Senior officials of the group have repeatedly emphasized the importance of religious and jihadist schools in their official meetings. Previously, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban’s political deputy to the Prime Minister, stated that religious schools receive “special attention” within the Ministry of Education.
Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban Minister of Higher Education, had previously remarked in Herat that clerics and fighters of the group do not require state exams for academic qualification, and testing them is considered “an insulting task.” He emphasized that each student is entitled to academic credit proportional to the number of mines they have detonated. He stated that no exams should be administered to students because their “academic merit is equivalent to the number of mines they have exploded.”
Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, acting head of the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture, said in a meeting on September 1, 2023, that to preserve their “golden history,” people should send their children to religious schools. The Taliban describe their control over Afghanistan and the 20-year war as their “golden history.”
In provinces where fewer religious schools were previously established, there is now an increased focus on Madrassa construction for recruitment purposes. The head of the Taliban’s education department in Ghor province previously mentioned that the Taliban have established 350 religious schools in the province within less than two years.
According to the Taliban supreme leader’s directive and the Ministry of Education, one large religious school with a dormitory is to be constructed in each district of each province of Afghanistan.
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban have established dozens of religious and jihadist schools. Their efforts include creating 100,000 teaching positions for religious schools, determining the academic level of 70,000 clerics, providing educational facilities, graduation without training, and increasing salaries for religious school teachers.
Karamatullah Akhundzada, deputy head of Islamic Education at the Taliban Ministry of Education, stated that establishing and building jihadist schools is a priority for the group. According to him, central jihadist schools with the capacity to enroll 1,000 students each have been established in over 25 provinces, with plans to build 3 to 10 primary religious schools in each district.
Per the Taliban supreme leader’s instructions, each student in these schools receives a daily stipend of 150 Afghanis. Mullah Hibatullah’s directives allocate salaries of 25,000 Afghanis for each of three Sheikh-ul-Hadith, 20,000 Afghanis for each of three Sheikhs, 14,000 Afghanis for each of three religious technical instructors, and 20,000 Afghanis for one Dar-ul-Hifaz instructor per school. Teachers in these schools receive salaries exceeding 20,000 Afghanis per month, whereas a teacher in a regular Afghan school typically earns 8,000 Afghanis per month.
The Taliban Ministry of Education recently reported the registration of around 6,000 official religious schools in Afghanistan. According to ministry officials, in addition to the registered schools, 15,716 unregistered religious schools and seminaries are also operating in the country.
Official information from the ministry indicates that in addition to all these, there are over 220 government and private seminaries in Afghanistan. This is in addition to the fact that the Taliban have converted several government schools into religious schools and military bases following their takeover of Afghanistan.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
مدرسهسازی طالبان؛ در کمتر از دو ماه در ۶ ولایت، ۱۴ مدرسه دینی تاسیس شده است | روزنامه ۸صبح
