KABUL – The Taliban’s Education Department in Herat has ordered all staff and teachers in the province to wear turbans while on duty and in classrooms.
The directive, signed on Sunday, September 28, by Rahmatullah Jaber, head of the Education Department in Herat, was issued following a decision by the provincial committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The order applies broadly to education department employees, district and city education officials, their staff, school principals and managers, teachers, and students in both public and private schools.
The department has also banned students in schools and madrassas across the province from using mobile phones.
Sources previously told KabulNow that the Taliban had already required education staff to grow “long beards,” denying workplace access to those with short beards.
Under the Taliban’s morality regulations, public employees are instructed to maintain beards and wear either a cap or a turban across several provinces now.
The new directive is part of the Taliban’s sweeping set of social restrictions imposed since their return to power in 2021, rooted in their rigid and fundamentalist interpretation of Sharia law. These rules extend far beyond the education sector, shaping public life through strict dress codes, gender segregation, bans on music, restrictions on women’s education and employment, and limitations on freedom of movement.
Violators of these edicts often face public humiliation, corporal punishment, or fines, and repeat offenses can lead to detention.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been widely criticized for acting as a moral police force, arbitrarily enforcing rules that suppress basic freedoms.
Human rights organizations have condemned such policies as clear violations of international law and human dignity. Groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International argue that compulsory dress codes, coupled with punishments for noncompliance, amount to systematic repression and contribute to what many experts describe as a form of “gender apartheid” and broader authoritarian control.
The United Nations has repeatedly urged the Taliban to reverse these measures, warning that they strip Afghans of fundamental rights and isolate the country further from the international community.
