While the UN reports that 2.2 million Afghan girls are barred from schooling beyond the primary level, the Taliban are preparing to provide educational programs for male prisoners.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Education and the group’s Prison Affairs Directorate have signed an agreement to deliver education inside prisons.
Abdul Khaliq Sadiq, deputy for quality assurance at the Taliban’s Ministry of Education, said: “The Islamic Emirate is determined to turn prisons from difficult places into centers of learning. The ministry is committed to providing necessary educational opportunities even for inmates.”
Under the agreement, the two Taliban bodies will jointly implement educational programs aimed at “mental, spiritual, and social empowerment” of prisoners.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres previously reported, citing Taliban prison authorities, that by late January 2025 around 25,500 people were being held in Taliban custody. Of these, only about 1,900 — roughly 7 percent — were women.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have shut school doors to girls, later extending the ban to training centers, universities, and medical institutes.
In New Delhi, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told female reporters that the group does not consider girls’ education forbidden (haram), but has suspended it “until further notice.”
He claimed that 10 million students are currently in school in Afghanistan, including 2.8 million girls. Muttaqi did not clarify how many of them attend religious seminaries versus formal schools.
