Afghan Taliban to Centralize High School Exams Nationwide by Year-End

Abdul Khaliq Sadiq, Deputy of Quality Assurance at the Taliban’s Ministry of Education, announced that high school exams across Afghanistan will be conducted centrally by the end of the current solar year. He made this statement during a press conference in Kabul, noting that preparations for implementing this plan are underway.

According to him, the purpose of this decision is to establish greater coordination and unified oversight over the student assessment process. However, no further details were provided regarding how the program will be executed or its practical mechanisms.

This announcement comes while the Taliban administration continues to ban education for girls beyond the sixth grade, a policy unchanged nearly five years after their return to power. These ongoing restrictions have resulted in millions of girls across the country being deprived of secondary and high school education.

Educational experts have previously emphasized that any reforms to the examination structure and educational system cannot adequately address the real needs of Afghanistan’s education system without reopening schools to girls. The continued exclusion of girls from education remains one of the country’s most serious social challenges, with widespread implications for the future of the younger generation.