The Taliban’s education ministry has revised the curriculum for primary schools to align with their own intrepretation of the “Sharia law”, a Taliban spokesman said.
Mansour Ahmad Hamzah, the Taliban spokesperson for the Education Ministry, told the Taliban-run broadcaster RTA on Monday that subjects not conforming to the “Sharia and culture of Afghanistan” have been removed from the curriculum. However, he did not specify which subjects were eliminated.
Taliban has had their own interpretation of the Sharia law when it comes to the implementation of their orders on certain matters, including women’s rights and their right to education.
Hamzah also noted the hiring of over 40,000 teachers, including women, in the past two years.
The curriculum changes come two years after the Taliban banned education for girls and women. The group cited the need for “conditions desired by the Taliban” and curriculum adjustments as reasons for the closures of schools and universities.
Additionally, Hamzah mentioned the construction of 972 schools in the past two years. He stated that 600 schools were completed in the last six months, and another 60 are expected to be finished by year-end.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Education also reported that about 14,000 religious schools have been registered under its administration in the past two years.
The U.S. Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction, SIGAR, in a recent report, stated that the Taliban has transformed public schools into full-time religious institutions.
