backs to the future, 1929–33was actively discouraged. The government also arrested many leading
reformers and supporters of the Seraj dynasty, who spent decades under
house arrest or in jail.
Education, too, was hard hit. The 1931 Constitution made primary
education compulsory up to year 6, but this effectively applied only to
boys, for girls were only permitted to attend madrasas, and then only
until puberty. The Darul Uloom at Deoband rewrote the primary curricu-
lum, which meant primary schools taught an almost exclusively Islamiyat
curriculum based on the Panj Ganj, a fourteenth-century didactic text. 13
Every school and teacher was legally required not to infringe the articles
of the Islamic faith and substantial state funding was earmarked for new
provincial madrasas. Private educational institutions were outlawed and
foreign teachers restricted to teaching a limited range of subjects. Women
were banned from studying abroad and those already in foreign countries
were ordered to return, even if they had not completed their course of
study. If any woman showed signs of reluctance to return home, threats
were made against family members in Afghanistan.
The German ’Amani School was renamed Nejat College, while the
French ’Amaniyya Lycée was renamed the Lycée Istiqlal. 14 Habibiyya
College, however, retained its original name. These secondary institutions
continued to teach elementary geography, maths, history and science, and
the government opened a number of vocational institutions. However, the
focus on Islamiyat at primary level meant that the new intake of second-
ary students were utterly unprepared for higher education. The al-‘Amr
bi’l-Mar’uf and internal security also kept a close watch on the colleges to
ensure ‘Western’ influences did not undermine Islamic values and because
they were suspected, rightly, of being breeding grounds for political dissent.
In February 1933 two addenda to the Constitution prohibited Afghan
women from marrying foreigners; those already married to non-Muslims
lost both their citizenship and all rights to property, land and inheritance.
Foreign widows who had married Afghans could only resume their former
nationality and return to their place of birth on condition they satisfied
the religious authorities that they would not apostatize. Foreigners were
forbidden from purchasing or owning land, though this provision was
ignored when it came to Pushtuns from the Indian side of the Durand
Line who had assisted the Musahiban’s bid for the throne. They were gifted
land in Balkh and other areas of northern and southeastern Afghanistan.
Despite the heavy restrictions on education, in 1932 the government
opened the country’s first medical school, which later became Kabul
University, but it remained a male-only institution for many years and