4.4.4. Access to education

Table of contents

4.4.4. Access to education

Following the Taliban takeover, primary and elementary schools were reopened for both boys and girls1308 after having been closed since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.1309 Girls have however been denied education beyond primary level,1310 as the de facto authorities only reopened secondary schools for boys in September 2021.1311 Initially, the de facto authorities policies towards girls’ secondary education was inconsistent.1312 In 2021–2022, some secondary schools for girls were able to open1313 and private secondary schools were reportedly allowed to continue to offer education for girls.1314 However, by 2023, sources indicated that most secondary schools had closed1315 in all provinces, including private secondary schools.1316 In 2025, the ban on secondary education for girls remains in place and secondary schools remain closed for girls.1317 Women’s university studies were moreover ‘suspended’ until further notice on 20 December 2022,1318 and one of the last ‘loopholes’ to acquire higher education was closed. Women were further barred from pursuing medical education in December 2024.1319 PVPV inspectors have been monitoring and enforcing the Morality law and girls’ education bans in educational institutions and madrassas.1320 PVPV inspectors monitored compliance on how to wear proper hijab, compliance with the ban on girls above the sixth grade or girls who looked older; and that classrooms and offices for female and male teachers were segregated.1321 In some instances, UNAMA observed that the Morality law was applied arbitrarily in the context of girls’ education.1322

There have been initiatives to provide girls with education online,1323 but these methods have not been ‘equally accessible or sustainable’1324 inter alia due to Afghanistan’s unstable internet connection.1325 Reportedly, underground secret schools have been running despite the ban.1326 Some sources reported on such initiatives being known by the local de facto authorities in some areas, and that they ‘accepted’ or ‘informally permitted’ such initiatives1327 or ‘shut a blind eye’ to them.1328 In 2025, online education and underground schools remained an important lifeline,1329 although online educations programs1330 as well as underground schools1331 were being undermined by cuts to international funding. In a survey by Bishnaw, participants reported increasing difficulties accessing non-formal learning spaces such as underground schools, online programs, and private tutoring.1332 Rawadari noted that, in 2024, as well as in the first half of 2025, the Taliban have been identifying and shutting down educational centres that secretly provided learning opportunities to girls.1333 Some radio stations have been offering educational programs,1334 but in some provinces, radio stations have been instructed to stop broadcasting educational programs for girls beyond grade six.1335

In the absence of higher education opportunities many women and girls have turned to education in madrassas.1336 Reportedly, no age limit is imposed1337 and girls over the age of 12 are able to study in de facto authority-registered madrassas in some provinces.1338 Female madrassa enrolment has augmented1339 and a ‘significant’ number of female students have been enrolled in Taliban religious madrassas.1340 Some sources mentioned alleged plans to restrict access to madrassa education for women and girls,1341 and several madrassas have been closed.1342 UNAMA reported that in some provinces de facto officials took steps to close madrassas to women and girls beyond grade six in late August 2025 due to violations of the hijab regulations, the teaching of ‘modern secular courses’ and the age of the girls.1343 Rahimi noted in an interview of October 2025 that from the beginning, the top leadership of the Taliban have not been promoting or been fond of the idea of women attending madrassas, especially amid the sentiment of people using it to as a workaround to teach general topics for women. He stated that there have been more efforts to make sure that female madrassas only focus on religious subjects and get rid of this loophole.1344

  • 1308

    TOLOnews, Afghan Students Anxious as Schools Remain Closed, 16 September 2021, url

  • 1309

    Al Jazeera, The Taliban closes Afghan girls’ schools hours after reopening, 23 March 2022, url

  • 1310

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 20 June 2023, url, para. 33

  • 1311

    Guardian (The), Taliban ban girls from secondary education in Afghanistan, 17 September 2021, url

  • 1312

    HRW, Four Ways to Support Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan, 20 March 2022, url

  • 1313

    Clark K., Who Gets to Go to School? (1): What people told us about education since the Taleban took over, AAN, 26 January 2022, url

  • 1314

    Rubin, B., Afghanistan Under the Taliban: Findings on the Current Situation, Stimson, 20 October 2022, url; Guardian (The), ‘She asked me, will they kill you if they discover you?’: Afghan girls defy education ban at secret schools, 13 August 2022, url

  • 1315

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 20 June 2023, url, paras. 33, 36

  • 1316

    Durrani, P., online interview, 19 October 2023

  • 1317

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url; Human Rights Watch, Taliban Deny Afghan Girls’ Their Education and Future, 17 September 2025, url

  • 1318

    Reuters, Taliban-led Afghan administration suspends women from universities, 20 December 2022, url

  • 1319

    HRW, Afghanistan’s Taliban Ban Medical Training for Women, 3 December 2024, url

  • 1320

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url, p. 16; Rawadari, Excluded and deprived: the educational crisis for women and girls in Afghanistan, 21 November 2024, url, pp. 13-14; Clark K. and AAN-Team, A year of Propagating Virtue and Preventing Vice: Enforcers and ‘enforced’ speak about the Emirate’s morality law, AAN, 21 August 2025, url; Rahimi H. and Watkins A., The Taliban’s Dynamic Efforts to Integrate and Regulate Madrasas And the Motives for Doing So, RWI, May 2025, url, p. 10

  • 1321

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url, p. 14; Clark K. and AAN-Team, A year of Propagating Virtue and Preventing Vice: Enforcers and ‘enforced’ speak about the Emirate’s morality law, AAN, 21 August 2025, url; Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 40

  • 1322

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url, p. 14

  • 1323

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, para. 42 ; RFE/RL, Taliban's Internet Ban Threatens Afghan Women's Livelihoods And Education, 26 September 2025, url; Afghanistan Human Rights Center, Report on Access to Education for Women Under the Taliban, December 2024, url, pp. 26-32

  • 1324

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, paras. 33, 36

  • 1325

    International journalist, online interview, 3 October 2023; Reuters, Afghan girls struggle with poor internet as

  • 1326

    RFE/RL, Secret Schools Offer 'A Ray Of Hope' For Rural Afghan Girls, 20 December 2023, url; CNN, ‘The school

  • 1327

    PRIO et al., Pathways towards Strengthening Girl’s Education in Afghanistan, December 2023, url, pp. 7–8

  • 1328

    Huck, A glimpse of life for women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, 6 September 2024, url

  • 1329

    UN OHCHR, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 8 October 2025, url, para. 12

  • 1330

    UN OHCHR, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 8 October 2025, url, para. 12; Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Relentless Repression 4 Years into Taliban Rule, url

  • 1331

    UN OHCHR, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 8 October 2025, url, para. 12; CNN, ‘They do not teach us what we need’: Inside the expansion of religious schools for girls across Afghanistan, 4 August 2025, url

  • 1332

    Bishnaw, The PVPV Law and its Impact on Women and their Communities, 31 December 2024, url, p. 2

  • 1333

    Rawadari, Afghanistan Mid-Year Human Rights Situation Report: January-June 30, 2025, August 2025, url, p. 40; Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, 19 March 2025, url, p. 32

  • 1334

    Zan Times, The radio classrooms defying the Taliban ban, 15 September 2025, url

  • 1335

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 6 December 2024, url, para. 34; USIP, Tracking the Taliban's (Mis)Treatment of Women, n.d., url

  • 1336

    AP, With no access to education beyond the 6th grade, girls in Afghanistan turn to religious schools, 24 July 2025, url

  • 1337

    Afghanistan Human Rights Center, Report on Access to Education for Women Under the Taliban, December 2024, url, p. 24

  • 1338

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 6 December 2024, url, para. 9

  • 1339

    Rahimi H. and Muhammad Din F., Female Madrasas & Islamic Agency of Afghan Women, 4 November 2024, url, p. 118

  • 1340

    Afghanistan Human Rights Center, Report on Access to Education for Women Under the Taliban, December 2024, url, p. 24

  • 1341

    UN OHCHR, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 8 October 2025, url, para. 12; France24, 'Afghan women are leading the resistance against the Taliban,' researcher says, 25/08/2025, url

  • 1342

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: July-September 2025, 28 October 2025, url, p. 2; Amu TV, Sources: Several girls’ madrassas closed in Kabul, 23 August 2025, url

  • 1343

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: July-September 2025, 28 October 2025, url, p. 2

  • 1344

    Rahimi, H., online interview, 30 October 2025. The interview was conducted by the EUAA in cooperation with the Belgian and Romanian COI units.