Taliban Eliminates Hundreds of Education Posts Across Afghan Provinces

The Taliban administration has eliminated hundreds of positions from provincial education departments in Afghanistan, with the most significant impact on teaching posts, raising serious concerns among education staff.

Documents obtained indicate that at least 560 positions have been cut from the education departments of Bamyan, Daikundi, Panjshir, and Ghazni provinces. A substantial portion of these positions belonged to teachers directly involved in school educational activities.

A source within Bamyan’s education department said that in this province alone, 27 positions from the department’s core structure, 111 teaching posts, 33 service staff positions, and 87 positions related to Islamic education have been removed. According to the source, some employees were dismissed without any clear explanation about their employment status.

A list obtained by the newspaper Etilaat Roz shows that 87 positions from both boys’ and girls’ schools in Bamyan have been abolished. These positions were situated in schools in central Bamyan and the districts of Panjab, Kahmard, Yakawlang, and Saighan. In the Jaghori district, 29 positions have also been removed from the education structure.

Previously, local sources had reported that between 26 and 30 staff members in each province’s central education departments have been left in limbo. Considering this trend, it is said that hundreds of positions have been removed in education departments across Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.

Earlier this year, the Taliban administration, under orders from its leader, eliminated approximately 90,000 positions from the Ministry of Education. At the time, the administration claimed that most of these posts were vacant. However, recent reports suggest that a significant number of active positions were also included in the cuts.

These developments come amid widespread restrictions on Afghanistan’s education system. Currently, schools and educational centers are only open to boys, and the Taliban has banned education for girls beyond the sixth grade—a move that has cast a shadow over both the right to education and the future of Afghanistan’s educational system.