The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education announced Wednesday that it will issue master’s and bachelor’s degrees to more than 2,200 graduates of religious seminaries, following a series of internal exams.
In a statement published Wednesday, the ministry released four lists containing the names of 2,231 individuals who qualified through various examination routes under Taliban supervision. These include candidates who passed the National Examination Authority’s tests, the second phase of the Kabul zonal religious exams, and what the ministry described as “extraordinary independent exams.”
The statement said that the academic degrees will be distributed on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
According to the announcement, those who passed the national exam will receive a master’s degree, while those who passed the second-stage zonal religious test will receive both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Graduates who completed the “extraordinary independent” exam will be awarded bachelor’s degrees, and recognized religious scholars who passed Taliban-administered assessments will receive both degrees.
The lists are broken down as follows: 390 candidates from Kabul’s third zone, 890 from the “extraordinary” category, 62 from the second list of national exams, and 889 from the second phase of the Kabul religious exams.
According to the ministry, 1,341 of the total recipients will be granted master’s degrees. However, the statement did not clarify the degree classification for the 890 candidates on the “extraordinary” list.
This is not the first time the Taliban have issued academic certifications to madrasa graduates. According to earlier reporting by Amu, Taliban previously awarded master’s degrees to more than 2,500 graduates of religious and jihadist seminaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The announcement comes amid the Taliban’s expansion of the religious education system. Figures by Taliban-run education ministry show that more than 21,000 madrasas are now operating across the country, including jihadi madrassas.
