AP PHOTOS: Life in a madrasa as Afghanistan enters new era

Attention is turning to the future of education in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, with calls among urban educated Afghans and the international community for equal access to education for girls and women

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In a school in a remote corner of the Afghan capital, a cacophony of children’s voices recite Islam’s holiest book.

Sunshine streams through the windows of the Khatamul Anbiya madrasa, where a dozen young boys sit in a circle under the tutelage of their teacher, Ismatullah Mudaqiq.

The students are awake by 4:30 a.m. and start the day with prayers. They spend class time memorizing the Quran, chanting verses until the words are ingrained. At any moment, Mudaqiq might test them by asking that a verse be recited from memory.

Attention is turning to the future of education in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, with calls among urban educated Afghans and the international community for equal access to education for girls and women. The madrasas -- Islamic religious schools for elementary and higher learning, attended only by boys -- represent another segment of Afghan society, poorer and more conservative.