Taliban Claims Best Educational Conditions Amid Continued Girls’ Schooling Ban
Abdul Khaliq Sadiq, Deputy Quality Assurance Officer at the Taliban Ministry of Education, claimed that after four decades, the best environment for education and progress has been established in Afghanistan. He made the remarks during a ceremony honoring the top performers of the 1405 (2026) university entrance exam, stating that with nationwide security secured, suitable conditions for life, education, and citizen development have been provided. These statements come while extensive restrictions on girls’ education remain firmly in place.
The Taliban administration has banned education for girls above the sixth grade for nearly five years, also closing universities and medical institutes to them. According to United Nations statistics, this decision has deprived more than 2.5 million girls across the country of their right to education, a situation that has attracted widespread domestic and international criticism.
Meanwhile, alongside the continuation of these restrictions, the Taliban have expanded the establishment and construction of religious and jihadist schools in various provinces, announcing plans to establish a large jihadist school in the center of each province. This approach has raised concerns about a shift in the country’s education system toward ideological teaching.
In a recent joint report on the state of education in Afghanistan, UNICEF and UNESCO stated that significant changes are being planned in the primary education curriculum. According to the report, in the revised plan, Islamic subjects will constitute nearly half of the weekly teaching hours, meaning more instructional time will be devoted to religious education.
These two United Nations agencies also described the decline in learning levels in the country as alarming. The report notes that more than 90 percent of 10-year-old children in Afghanistan are unable to read a simple text, labeling this as one of the most severe learning crises worldwide. The report emphasizes that Afghanistan’s education system faces unprecedented challenges, challenges that have become even more extensive due to the ongoing deprivation of girls’ education.
