The Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, has ordered the closure of all girls’ religious schools in Afghanistan — institutions that for many had become the last fragile doorway to learning.
According to Al Arabiya, the directive was delivered in a cabinet meeting in Kandahar last week. Akhundzada instructed the Ministries of Education and Higher Education to stop enrolling girls in religious schools immediately and declared that no female students would receive graduation certificates from these institutions in the future.
Sources within the Taliban said the decision came after some of these schools began teaching modern science subjects alongside religious studies. But for Afghan girls, these schools were more than just classrooms. With secondary schools, universities, and vocational institutes already shut to them, they had clung to religious schools as their only chance to read, learn, and dream beyond the walls of their homes.
For four years, girls and their families endured the long journey to these schools, believing that even a limited education was better than none. Now, with this latest decree, that last option has been taken away, extinguishing yet another light of hope for Afghanistan’s young women.
Note: The photo is from the Internet
