Religious Schools Replace Education for Afghan Girls Under Taliban Rule

This article is co-published with Rukhshana Media.

In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, religious schools, the only option left for girls after the shutdown of formal education, have become spaces of intense scrutiny and control, particularly over how young women dress.

One student, who spoke to More to Her Story on the condition of anonymity, described the daily inspections carried out by school supervisors at the gates of her madrasa in Herat.

“We must enter the school wearing a prayer chador, a black uniform, a headband, and a mask,” she said. “If even a trace of makeup is seen on a girl’s face, she is forced to wash it off with soap. Nail polish is removed immediately. Even our hair must be braided, and if any clips or decorative items are found, they are confiscated.”

Violations of these rigid rules come with consequences: monetary fines for first-time offenses, and potential expulsion for repeat infractions. According to students, fines typically range from 20 to 50 Afghanis ($0.20–$0.70), an amount many find financially prohibitive.

Mozhgan*, a 20-year-old madrasa student in Herat, said that school officials frequently lecture girls about the dangers of looking well-groomed, claiming it can “multiply their sins.”

“They tell us we must not wear makeup… If you leave the house with a made-up face, the sin is counted as double; you are considered a sinner,” she said, recounting when she was barred from entering her classroom for an hour because she had worn nail polish.

Mozhgan, who also sells cosmetics online, sees it differently. “Makeup gives me a sense of confidence and power. I’ve heard these same lectures over and over, but in my view, it’s a personal decision.”

At the entrance of another religious school, on Gozargah Street in Herat city, a mannequin clothed entirely in black stands at the entrance as a kind of examples of what students should be wearing. For the dozens of girls who come and go to study the Quran here, the message is clear: students must adhere to the Taliban’s strict version of mandatory hijab.

Maryam*, 23, who is a mathematics and physics graduate from Herat who has been attending a religious center for two years, told More to Her Story that while has no real interest in religious studies, the routine schooling at least gives her a chance to step outside the confines of her home.

“I studied for sixteen years [before the Taliban took over Afghanistan], but every day I was haunted by the thought that under the Taliban, all my efforts over the years had gone to waste,” Maryam said. 

“I had become isolated. Now, I come to this school to ease that pain—to find a bit of peace during even just an hour of lessons.”

According to officials from religious schools in Herat, Kabul, and Balkh, the number of girls attending these religious schools has significantly increased since the Taliban returning to power in 2021. At Naumaniya madrasa in Herat, “The madrasa’s activities have grown in the past four years, and we now teach girls above the sixth grade. Our curriculum has been somewhat influenced by the Islamic Emirate,” the school’s deputy head told More to Her Story.

At least 120 girls are currently studying at Naumaniya madrasa, where the curriculum blends the educational programs of the previous Afghan government with the Taliban’s renewed curriculum, which include courses in Quran recitation and pronunciation (Tajweed), Islamic inheritance law, Arabic grammar (Sarf), and syntax (Nahw). Female students at the Ghyasiyia madrasa in Herat confirmed with More to her Story that the primary language of the textbooks is Arabic.

“When they [the Taliban] closed the schools, I stayed home for a year, hoping that maybe tomorrow, or the day after, schools would reopen,” said Asma*, 21, a student at the Ghyasia madrasa. “But now that there’s no hope left, I’ve come here just to at least finish what would have been my school years,” she said.

A student at Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq madrasa in Balkh told More to Her Story, on condition of anonymity, that the previous Afghan government included subjects such as science, mathematics, English, Persian and Pashto literature, and psychology in the curriculum. However, the Taliban have removed these subjects.

Houria Mosaddeq, who is the executive director of Conflict Analysis Network, said that with secondary schools and universities closed to girls and women, the Taliban’s ultimate goal is to indoctrinate them with extremist and fundamentalist ideologies.

“In these [religious] schools, students are given extremist and even military training, which is extremely dangerous because religion is being used as a tool to oppress others and silence different ways of thinking,” Mosaddeq said, adding that the Taliban’s main focus is to indoctrinate boys, whom they seek to recruit as future fighters.

As in the Taliban’s earlier rule in the 1990s and early 2000s, religious schools have once again become fertile ground for recruitment. Observers are deeply concerned that the Taliban are using religious schools to promote their hardline interpretation of Islam—this time under far fewer constraints and with far more young minds in their grip.

“In many of these schools, we’re not just dealing with a religious-extremist group, but one that embraces militarization and armed training. This is a serious warning sign for Afghanistan’s future,” Mosaddeq said.