Religious schools fill the gaps in the broken education system in Afghanistan Education News

In the narrow alleys in Kabul and the calm courtyard, boys who wear white covers and jackets hardly wears the verses of the Qur’an through an expanded network of religious schools that increasingly block critical gaps in the defaulting education system in Afghanistan.

Public schools continue to work, but their effectiveness has shrunk due to resource restrictions, insufficient faculty and continuous effects of the struggle for decades. Thus, families are increasingly turning into Madrasas, which provides organized education based on Islamic teachings. The increase in enrollment is noticeable. One school northern Kabul expanded from 35 to more than 160 students in just five years.

While most schools give priority to Quranic memorization, Islamic jurisprudence, and the education of the Arabic language, some have begun to integrate basic secular topics such as mathematics and English. However, many fail to meet national and international educational standards, raising concerns about their impact on the development of comprehensive students.

For girls, educational barriers are particularly severe. With the ban on secondary education under the Taliban’s rule, some girls attended as one of their few remaining paths for learning, although opportunities remain restricted even in these institutions.

Critics argue that schools often work as centers for religious indoctrination, and may affect their increasing prominence significantly on the path of Afghanistan.

However, for countless children across the country, these religious schools represent their only accessible form of education.