Taliban have dismissed 90 female teachers working in literacy programs in the eastern province of Nangarhar, local sources told Amu on Sunday.
The teachers were employed under the Directorate of Education and were teaching in adult literacy classes, mostly operating in rural districts of the province, the sources said.
According to the sources, the teachers’ salaries had been paid by humanitarian organizations supporting community education programs. Taliban have now shut down the literacy classes entirely and dismissed all female instructors, they added.
The move is the latest in a series of restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women’s employment and education since they returned to power in 2021. Taliban have barred girls from attending secondary schools and universities and limited women’s work to a few sectors, such as health care.
Aid agencies say women’s exclusion from the education sector has severely affected humanitarian and development programs, particularly those focused on community learning and literacy for women and girls.
Taliban have not commented on the reported dismissals.
Here’s a concise, AP-style paragraph you can add at the end for global context:
According to UNESCO, fewer than 30 percent of Afghan women are literate, one of the lowest rates in the world. The UN agency has warned that the Taliban’s bans on girls’ education and restrictions on women teachers risk erasing two decades of progress in literacy and learning across Afghanistan.
