Rawadari: Taliban in Kandahar have distributed “mahram cards” to 9-year-old schoolgirls

The Rawadari human rights organization says that in the past year, the Taliban have increased restrictions on the education of girls and women and have tried to prevent their access to educational services in private institutions as well.
Rawadari said in a report today (Wednesday, March 25) that the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue in Kandahar has distributed “mahram cards” to schoolgirls below grade six who have reached the age of 9, and has made it mandatory for them to have a legal mahram when going to school.
In addition, in some schools in Helmand and Ghazni, girls below grade six who have reached the age of 9 and are physically taller or more developed have been banned from attending classes.
The report also says that in 2025, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice carried out efforts across different parts of Afghanistan to identify and shut down secret educational centers.
It is also stated in the report that in district 5 of Kandahar city, the Taliban converted two girls’ schools into religious madrasas and plan to convert more schools in the province into madrasas.
Rawadari says the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue has instructed all higher education institutions to avoid teaching books written by female authors.
The report adds that in the past year, the Taliban have tightened strict rules related to hijab and mahram requirements for female teachers and female students, even at levels below grade three, banned female teachers from teaching male students above grade three, restricted the participation of women and girls in vocational training programs, drawing and calligraphy, and shut down training programs such as sewing and embroidery.
Rawadari also added that in 2025, the Taliban closed dozens of secret educational centers that were teaching girls and women, and arrested their teachers and students.
The report further states that the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in several provinces such as Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, Parwan, Badakhshan, and Herat has forced schoolgirls below grade six to wear chadors, long clothing, and masks.
The report says that students who did not follow these strict rules were punished, humiliated, insulted, and in some cases their clothes were torn or they were expelled from school.