In the past two years, the Taliban have constructed approximately 350 religious schools in Ghor province. Local officials of this group in the province, expressing satisfaction with the school-building process, have requested the Ministry of Education under Taliban control to allocate 1,500 positions for religious schools in this province. This comes as some civil activists and residents of the province express deep concern about the growing trend of building madrasas and the attraction of children to these places. They argue that the Taliban’s excessive focus on building madrasas has diminished the people’s interest in modern education and schooling. According to them, students from these religious schools are already issuing fatwas of disbelief and murder. If this continues, they believe the situation in this province will become uncontrollable.
Hafizullah Mahfouz, the Taliban’s head of education in the province of Ghor, stated that the group has established 350 religious schools in the province since taking control of Afghanistan. He claims that the creation of these religious schools in Ghor has brought about positive changes in raising the educational level of the youth.
The local Taliban official added, “We have built approximately 350 religious schools under the Ministry of Education for religious scholars. We have added 172 more positions to official and government madrasas that we had.” He expressed hope that the Ministry of Education under the control of the Taliban would allocate an additional 1,500 positions to Taliban and private religious schools in Ghor province.
Meanwhile, some young individuals and those who were civically active before the Taliban’s takeover express concerns about the group’s madrasa-building initiatives. According to them, the Taliban’s efforts to establish religious schools and overshadow modern educational institutions are worrisome. These civil activists emphasize that if the current situation persists, modern schooling in the country will be just a memory.
Voicing their concerns, they state that following the Taliban’s takeover, “groups” of children, adolescents, and young people have flocked to Taliban religious schools, where they receive training with an extremist orientation.
Qadir (pseudonym), one of the youths from Ghor who was active in civil society before the Taliban’s takeover, states, “This province is filled with madrasas and formally educated religious students, but the modern schooling is fading these days.” Speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, he adds, “Now we can’t raise our voices, but the current situation is very perilous. Everywhere you look, a madrasa has been established. Extremist clerics with low religious education are being recruited.”
This former civil activist in Ghor emphasizes that with the fall of the republic system, the interest of students and scholars in continuing their education in modern institutions has diminished, and the Taliban have propagated a mindset in this regard. According to him, neglect of modern schooling and modern institutions has disheartened the students to continue their education in modern institutions.
He continues to claim, “Even half the attention given to religious schools is not directed towards modern educational institutions. What we witness is madrasas replacing modern schools, and this is very dangerous.”
On the other hand, Aref (pseudonym), another resident of Ghor province, expresses concern about the presence of children in religious schools. According to him, the attendance of underage children leads to the growth of extremism in society. He adds, “With the continuation of such a situation, in less than two years, students from these madrasas will issue ‘death sentences’ for individuals ‘without beards.'” This young resident of Ghor states, “The situation is alarming. They have collected and taken children as young as toddlers to religious schools. These madrasa students in Ghor issued fatwas for the killing of former military personnel. I have witnessed them saying that the religious teacher’s salary comes from Saudi Arabia, and the police officer’s salary comes from America, therefore killing former military personnel seemed legitimate and considered jihad to them. They have control over mosques and issue death sentences.”
These concerns arise as the Taliban, in each district of this province, are establishing fully equipped religious schools with dormitories. In the latest development, Sadr al-Din Saad, the head of finance and accounting at the Taliban Ministry of Education, visited Ghor and unveiled the creation of dormitories for Taliban schools. He stated that a fully equipped religious school with a dormitory is being established in each district of Afghanistan, and practical work in this regard has commenced.
During his trip to the Du Layna district of Ghor province, the Taliban official mentioned that a madrasa dormitory for 50 individuals with all necessary facilities is set to be constructed soon.
While the Taliban are currently engaged in building madrasas, it’s noteworthy that some of these religious schools and mosques served as crucial bases and recruitment centers for the Taliban in the past 20 years. Dozens of clerics and teachers from these religious institutions issued fatwas against the previous government during the establishment of the republic.
Now, after two years and three months of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, hundreds of religious schools have been established in each province. According to Mullah Hibatullah’s directive, the group has founded one “Grand Jihadist School” in each province and several religious schools in each district of these provinces. Additionally, dozens of informal madrasas, supported by the Taliban, have been built across the country.
