Taliban converting schools into madrasas

Afghanistan : Dozens of state schools, public universities, and vocational training centers have been turned by the Taliban into Islamic seminaries across Afghanistan. Equipped with a science laboratory, library, and computer lab, the Abdul Hai Habibi High School was considered one of the most modern and prestigious government schools in southeastern Afghanistan. But since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the secular school in the city of Khost has been converted into a madrasah, or religious seminary, forcing many of its 6,000 students and 130 teachers to leave, RFE/RL reported. Critics say the aim of the Islamist militant group is to root out all forms of the modern secular education that thrived in Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban’s first regime.