(Reuters) - The U.N. children's agency said it was holding discussions with&nbsp;Afghanistan's ruling&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;authorities&nbsp;over&nbsp;"timelines and practicalities" for a possible required handover&nbsp;to&nbsp;local&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;of its education programmes and that classes would continue in the meantime.
Aid officials say that the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;had signalled international&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;could no longer be involved in education&nbsp;projects, in a move criticised by the U.N. but not yet confirmed by&nbsp;Afghan&nbsp;authorities.
UNICEF said it had received assurances from the education ministry that its community-based classes, which educate 500,000 students, would continue while they discussed the matter.
"As the lead agency for the education cluster in&nbsp;Afghanistan,&nbsp;UNICEF is engaged in constructive discussions with the de facto Ministry of Education and appreciates the commitment from the de facto minister to keep all ... classes continuing while discussions take place&nbsp;about&nbsp;timelines and&nbsp;practicalities,"&nbsp;UNICEF's&nbsp;Afghanistan spokesperson, Samantha Mort, told Reuters.
"In order to minimise disruption to children's learning, it is imperative that any handover&nbsp;to national NGOs is done strategically and includes comprehensive assessment and capacity building."
A spokesperson for the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;did not respond to request for comment. The Ministry of Education has not publicly confirmed the policy.
The&nbsp;Taliban, who took power in 2021, have closed most secondary schools to girls, stopped female students attending&nbsp;universities and stopped many&nbsp;Afghan&nbsp;women working for aid groups and the&nbsp;United Nations in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
International&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;have been heavily involved in education&nbsp;projects, and&nbsp;UNICEF made an agreement with the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;to run&nbsp;community classes before they took&nbsp;over&nbsp;the country.
Two humanitarian sources told Reuters this month that aid agencies had been told provincial authorities had been directed to stop the involvement of international&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;in education&nbsp;projects,&nbsp;possibly&nbsp;within weeks.
The U.N. spokesperson in New York said the move would be a "horrendous step backwards".
UNICEF runs many community-based classes including for 300,000 girls, often in homes in rural areas.
The&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;took&nbsp;over&nbsp;Afghanistan after a 20-year insurgency against U.S.-led forces with a speed and ease that took the world by surprise.
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(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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UN in talks with Taliban about possibly handing over Afghan teaching projects to local organisations