The Taliban-run Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday that 21,257 Islamic education centers, or madrasas, have been established across Afghanistan.
During a press conference, Taliban officials from the ministry said these centers currently serve a total of 3.69 million students. In comparison, the number of public and private schools across the country stands at 18,337.
The ministry outlined that the Islamic education centers include 19,669 madrasas, 1,207 Quranic memorization schools (darul-hifaz), 115 religious seminaries (darul-uloom), and 39 orphanages.
The Taliban did not clarify whether these religious institutions were all established during their three years in power or if the figure includes those built under the previous government.
Taliban also noted that recruitment is underway for 100,000 approved positions in Islamic education.
According to the ministry, the total number of students enrolled in both public and private educational institutions is 10.91 million, spread across the 18,337 schools nationwide. According to the ministry, over 1.4 million people have been enrolled over the past year.
Taliban also stated that the ministry employs 389,200 people, including 241,121 teachers, with the remainder serving in administrative and support roles.
Additionally, the Taliban reported the creation of 123 schools and 159 local education classes for the nomadic Kochi community, with 41,824 Kochi children currently attending these programs.
This comes as girls beyond sixth grade are banned from schooling over the past three years.
