She said attending a seminary would allow her to at least receive some form of education. Qudusi enrolled in a madrasah in the northern province of Parwan after the Taliban banned women from studying at universities in December. "Uneducated women won't be able to achieve anything." "How can we stand on our own feet if we don't have education?" she asked. Tamina Qudusi, a former university student, told Radio Azadi that the Taliban's attitude toward modern education is self-destructive. The Islamist group has also vowed to overhaul the national curriculum and build a vast network of madrasahs across the country's 34 provinces. Since regaining power, the militants have converted scores of secular schools, public universities, and vocational training centers into Islamic seminaries, leading to a surge in the number of madrasahs in the country. For many, it is the only means of getting an education - albeit one limited to religious studies. The Taliban has vowed to root out all forms of the modern secular education that thrived in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban's first regime.įemale students attend a madrasah in Ghor Province. "Besides religious education, we also want to study other subjects." "We want our regular schools to be open," the 18-year-old told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. The militants have allowed girls of all ages to study at seminaries in Afghanistan, a predominately Muslim country of around 40 million. Jalili is now among the thousands of teenage girls who have enrolled in Taliban-run madrasahs as a last resort to continue their education. The militant group soon banned girls above the sixth grade from attending school, shattering her dream of becoming a doctor. Inside the Islamic seminary, dozens of teenage girls sit on the floor, rocking back and forth, as they recite the Koran, Islam's holy book.Īmong them is Zohra Jalali, who was in her final year of school when the Taliban seized power in 2021. A group of girls wearing black face veils silently enter a madrasah in Afghanistan's central province of Ghor.
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