Date: 22/02/1404
After the Taliban's official approval of the reduction of positions in government institutions on the orders of their leader, sources now report that the process has been extended to educational institutions. According to sources, after the start of this process among the military forces, a number of university professors and school teachers have also been dismissed from their jobs. Three of the dismissed teachers confirmed to AMU that in the past two days, a number of employees, including women, people over the age of 60 and those who have not committed any violations, have been relieved of their duties without going through the formal evaluation process and issuing an administrative letter. These sources also emphasized the sharp reduction in teachers' salaries, saying that the salaries of some teachers have reached less than 5,000 afghanis. Sources say that the Taliban have set the salaries of teachers with bachelor's degrees at 4,500 afghanis and the salaries of teachers without a bachelor's degree or salaried employees at 3,000 afghanis. One teacher, who did not want to be named in the report, said: "A large number of teachers who were older were fired and our salaries were reduced from 5,000 to 4,500. Most teachers have been told to go to other schools to teach. With this livelihood, we can pay rent or expenses for the family. Their goal is to eliminate them completely."
Earlier, Amu had obtained a copy of a plan by the Taliban's Ministry of Education, in which the order of Haibatullah Akhundzada had worked on the elimination of nearly 90,000 posts, which had been formulated as a balancing act of the organization. However, this trend is not limited to school teachers, but the Taliban have also started dismissing university professors in the past two days. Sources told Amu that the Taliban have started the process of purge a number of professors of public universities, including Kabul University, in the past two days. According to these sources, these actions have been carried out without an official assessment or providing specific criteria, and so far no explanation has been provided by the Taliban. However, the Taliban's Ministry of Education and Higher Education has rejected these reports, stressing that such a process has not yet officially begun. In addition, since January, the process of paying government employees has been delayed, and in recent months, several government employees have told Amu that even the payment of their salaries has been delayed by two months.

The reported mass dismissals and salary reductions affecting teachers and university professors—implemented without evaluation, notice, or clear criteria—indicate the use of administrative “downsizing” by the Taliban as a tool of purge and coercion rather than institutional reform. by targeting women, older staff, and employees without violations, and by cutting wages below subsistence levels, the policy functions to forcibly exit educators from public service while hollowing out the education system. The expansion of this process to public universities, including Kabul University, signals a systemic assault on educational capacity, livelihoods, and independent professional life.