The Taliban-run Ministry of Education has forced education officials to sign commitments that they will not teach girls above grade six or girls aged fourteen and above, according to four education centres in Kabul.
A copy of the commitment, seen by Rukhshana Media, also states that female teachers must only teach girls below the sixth grade.
It further states that “no excuse for violating this directive is acceptable”.
Ahmad Wali, who runs a language education center in Kabul, said he refused to sign the letter, but he received a warning.
“I told them [Taliban education officials] that our male and female personnel are completely separate – even the guard for the female section is a woman. And female students are taught by female teachers. Furthermore, we have a license to operate from the Ministry of Education,” Ahmad Wali says.
“But they said that this is a general directive from their supreme leader, and if you don’t sign it, be prepared for further notice.”
An education official in Kabul, who spoke to Rukhshana Media on condition of anonymity, said the Taliban directive has been implemented in stages.
First, before the school year began in March, Taliban education officials verbally reminded high schools and education centers that they are not allowed to teach girls above sixth grade.
The source said the Taliban education authorities warned the centers that inspection forces would take serious action against any center found teaching girls beyond this age.
However, the source believes many centers have continued to secretly provide education to girls above sixth grade since these warnings.
Then in the next stage, the Taliban swiftly shut down several educational centers in Kabul city, ostensibly for teaching girls the high school syllabus. The officials of these centers have demanded a clear response from the Taliban Ministry of Education for the closures, according to the source.
In its latest move, the Taliban-run Ministry of Education sent the commitment letter to all education centers last week and center officials were asked to attend a session where they were instructed to sign it.
The source said many signed the commitment letter, which in most cases was attached to their personal identification cards, copies of their education permits, and a copy of the educational centers’ license.
It explicitly states that ignorance of the “government orders and commands” is a crime, but there was no explanation regarding what the punishment would be for not following it, the source said.
Education activist Ahmad Nasiri said the commitment letter has shot an arrow into the heart of any hopes of a formal education for girls.
“It states that ignorance of the command is a crime. This means that educational centers will no longer have any excuse for teaching girls beyond the sixth grade, saying that they were unaware of this order,” he said.
He said any hope the Taliban were considering allowing girls to attend high school or university has completely died, with the space and attention to this topic instead being focused on establishing religious schools.
He said it’s a way for the Taliban to avoid controversy both nationally and internationally, by appearing to allow education for girls, but essentially they’re replacing all formal education with religious schools.
The Taliban closed girls high schools in their first month of seizing power of Afghanistan in August 2021.
They had told the international community in the Doha talks before their takeover that education would be provided to girls and women when they were in government.
Since closing schools and later the universities to girls, they have been saying to the Afghan people who oppose the closure and to the international community that girls’ education was only suspended until a safe and suitable environment was provided for girls to learn.
