Latest statistics released by the Ministry of Education shows that over 1,000 schools, out of 17,500, are closed for various reasons including that of insecurity. 

Most of the schools, the ministry says, are located in insecure provinces including Kunduz, Helmand and Kandahar.

In Bamiyan however, only three out of 500 schools are closed. 

An official from Ghor said 130 schools are operational in areas under Taliban influence. The official said these are operational on condition the teachers’ salaries are paid through school finance officers instead of being paid into a teacher’s bank account. 

Sources told TOLOnews that some schools in Kunduz have also been threatened by the Taliban and told not to use an established bank for salaries.

The Kunduz governor’s spokesman Nematullah Temori said some schools are closed in Kunduz because “the local government wants to reform the salary payroll system to fight corruption”. 

He said they have adopted the system of paying teachers’ salaries into their bank accounts. 

In Ghor, seven schools are closed, and 130 others are open in Taliban-influenced areas. The province has 815 schools, a local official said.

“130 schools are under Taliban influence,” a local representative of Ghor Qadir Shah Bahr said. 

“Salaries are given to teachers in some schools based on the Taliban’s demands. Taliban will close the schools if this demand is not met,” Bahr said. 

The Ministry of Education said no deal has been made with any group to pay teachers’ salaries.

“Such an act to make a deal with an individual or a group has not been done so far. Teachers should receive their salaries through banks,” Kabir Haqman, head of the ministry’s publications department, said.

Meanwhile, reports show that 30 out of 310 schools were closed by the Taliban in Charkh district in Logar province. However, the provincial governor’s office said all the schools have been reopened in the province.

“Some old cultures are still alive in Charkh and Kharwar districts (in Logar) where girls are not allowed to study above sixth grade,” Logar governor’s spokesman Salim Saleh said.

“There are 482 schools in Maidan Wardak (province), 68 are for girls. In total, 168,000 students are studying at these schools,” Wardak governor’s spokesman Abdul Rahman Mangals said.

Meanwhile, some schoolteachers talked about the situation of schools in their areas.

“We were faced with lots of problems last year. Some walls of our schools were damaged in the war. But this problem has been partially resolved this year,” said Anita Alamyar, a schoolteacher in Logar.

“There is an overload of students because they have come from other parts of the (Logar) province. We realized this is because it is difficult to go to schools in some districts,” Anisa Bahar, a Logar schoolteacher said.

Government figures show that over three million children are deprived of an education due to insecurity in the country.