"When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Nahid, 24, was midway through an economics degree. She had hoped to work in a university after she graduated. Instead, Nahid now spends her mornings at a religious school in the basement of a mosque in the western city of Herat, sitting on the floor and reciting scripture with 50 other women and girls, all dressed in black from head to toe."
"A Guardian and Zan Times investigation across eight of Afghanistan's 34 provinces has revealed the Taliban's deliberate and calculated efforts to make religious studies the only education option available to women and girls in Afghanistan. After first excluding women and girls from secondary school and further education more than four years ago, the regime has been building a large network of religious schools that promote a new alternative."
Taliban authorities have restricted girls' secondary and higher education and constructed a nationwide network of religious schools as the primary educational option for women and girls. More than 21,000 madrasas existed by the end of last year, and nearly 50 new madrasas were started across 11 provinces between September 2024 and February 2025. Madrasa teachers receive ministry salaries, and the education ministry issued teaching certificates to 21,300 former madrasa students to qualify them to teach up to postgraduate levels. Families face limited alternatives and are often pressured or incentivised to enrol daughters, with small stipends influencing attendance decisions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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