Taliban intensifies crackdown on modern education, promotes madrassas instead

On 14 January 2025, the women-led online media outlet Rukhshana reported that the Taliban had closed two NGO-run education centres in the Sangi-Takht-wa-Bandar and Khadir districts of Daikundi province, and arrested six individuals, including managers and teachers.

A source claimed that the school in Sangi-Takht-wa-Bandarwas run by the International NGO Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), and had been teaching English for five years. Although the school reportedly complied with past Taliban warnings not to admit girls above grade six, the Taliban still shut it down and carried out the arrests on 12 January.

Similarly, 8am Media reported that the Taliban arrested four female teachers after shutting down an English-language education centre in Khadir, but later released them following mediation by local elders. Other media sources also reported the closures in Daikundi, but the Taliban have yet to comment officially.

Amu TV identified the NGO running the centres in Daikundi as the New Horizon Human Welfare and Development Organization (NHHWDO). A Kabul Now media report, citing local sources, claimed that the centres were previously operated by JRS, but had “rebranded” as NHHWDO after the Taliban takeover. The 2018 annual report of JRS South Asia states that the organization conducted English language and computer courses in Kabul, Herat, Daikundi, and Bamyan provinces.

Later in the month, on 25 January 2025, multiple media outlets reported that the Taliban had closed an education centre run by NHHWDO in Lal-wa-Sarjangal district, Ghor. Rukhshana reported that the Taliban shut down the centre for enrolling girls above grade six and arrested four staff members, including a female teacher. On 27 January 2025, Etilaat Roz and Merman Media reported that the Taliban had also shut down 41 English language classes and five computer classes operated by NHHWDO in Bamyan province, for teaching girls above grade six and for promoting Christianity.

On 1 February 2025, the Taliban-affiliated Hindukush media accused the centre in Daikundi of promoting Christianity with Western funding, and “targeting children and youth”. A video presents “evidence” of this in the form of written material with titles including “Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies” and “Introducing World Religions”.

Several pro-Taliban accounts reposted the Hindukush media report on X (formerly Twitter) in Pashto and English.

On 3 February 2025, Hindukush media reported that Solaiman Ehsani, the head of the NHHWDO centre in Bamyan, remains in Taliban custody and is being investigated for promoting Christianity. Last week, several activists called for Ehsani’s release on social media, claiming he was the only NHHWDO staffer still in detention out of those who had been arrested in Bamyan.

NHHWDO is a national NGO registered with the Afghan Ministry of Economy (MoE) in June 2019, focusing on “social services, education, and agriculture”. According to the MoE, the NGO in 2020 implemented an education in emergencies project in Ghor and Daikundi provinces.

Various social media posts from the past three years – including on job vacancies, from the Taliban’s Department of Labor and Social Affairs in Bamyan, and the Rural Rehabilitation Department of Daikundi – highlight NHHWDO’s activities in women’s education in Bamyan and Daikundi.

A September 2024 report from the Bamyan branch of state-run Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) highlights how the Department of Education and NHHWDO jointly offered English and computer classes.

Separately, media reported on 14 and 15 January 2025 that the Taliban had shut down 16 private education centres in Paktia, where boys were taught English, science, and art. While the Taliban did not comment on the issue, Zawia News reported that the educational centres were closed due to unspecified “violations”, while some Facebook comments claimed these included a failure to pay taxes and renew operating permits.

AW sources in Kabul confirmed that girls of secondary school age and women were still attending English and computer classes at private education centres, suggesting that the Taliban’s recent shutdowns are not part of a national, blanket ban on such centres.

Taliban reportedly act against scholarships for Afghans in Pakistan, Russia

On 25 January 2025, Voice of America reported that hundreds of Afghan refugees in Pakistan took exams for the Allama Iqbal Scholarships in Peshawar and Quetta, a university scholarship funded by the Pakistani government. Afghan-based students are set to take the same exam online at a later date, with one-third of the 2,000 scholarships reserved for women.

The Express Tribune reported that the Taliban would allow Afghan women to study in Pakistan if accompanied by male guardians. On 27 January 2025, however, the Taliban’s MoE denied it had given conditional approval for women to study in Pakistan, calling it part of a “propaganda campaign” and claiming it had not been involved in scholarships for refugees in Pakistan.

In mid-January 2025, Afghanistan International, BBC, and Amu TV reported that 500 Afghan male students awarded higher education scholarships in Russia had been denied visas by the Russian embassy in Kabul on the Taliban’s request. Students told Amu TV, Kabul Now and 8am Media that officials at the MoE had denied the visas to prevent students adopting “infidel” and “communist” ideologies while studying in Russia.

Madrassa graduation ceremonies attended by senior Taliban leaders

In contrast to the Taliban’s restrictions on modern education, several senior Taliban leaders attended madrassa graduation ceremonies for thousands of students in January 2025. On 27 January, 346 students graduated from Kandahar Jihadi Madrassa, with Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada urging them to resist foreign influence and stand firm for Islam in a speech at the ceremony.

Other senior Taliban officials who attended ceremonies during the month include: Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Deputy Prime Minister and current Acting Minister of Refugees (Khost, 24 January); Sheikh Neda Mohammad Nadeem, Acting Minister of Higher Education (Kandahar, 21 January); Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Acting Deputy Prime Minister (Kabul, 9 January); Mullah Abdul Latif Mansour, Minister of Energy and Water, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Kabul, 4 January).

Other graduation ceremonies for religious students were held in provinces including Nangarhar, Helmand, Khost and Kabul. The Taliban’s reports on these ceremonies made no mention of female graduates.

Remarks

The Taliban’s closure of NGO-run girls’ education centres in January 2025, as well as private education centres for boys in Paktia, aligns with their broader restrictions on modern education in Afghanistan. However, this does not appear to indicate a national, blanket ban on private education centres, as they continue to operate for both boys and girls at least in Kabul – at least for now.

The rejection of foreign scholarships for Afghan students further underscores the Taliban’s reluctance to support modern education, and desire to actively promote madrassa-based religious schooling as an alternative.

Despite international pressure and increasing signs of internal Taliban rifts on the issue, the environment for modern education continues to deteriorate, including for boys.