UNESCO: 2.4 Million Girls Barred from School in Afghanistan

Nearly 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been barred from secondary education since the Taliban took control in 2021, according to UNESCO. The number of girls denied access has increased by about 200,000 since the previous year and could reach nearly four million by 2030 if the ban persists. Hoda Jaberian, UNESCO's program coordinator for education in emergencies, emphasized that five years of education loss equates to nearly an entire secondary school cycle.

The Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, following the U.S. and NATO forces withdrawal after two decades of war. Initially, the Taliban promised women's continued access to education, but girls were barred from secondary schools in March 2022, and women were excluded from universities in December of the same year. The Taliban claims these measures are temporary, but they remain enforced.

The authorities justify the restrictions by stating respect for women's rights according to their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture, while also insisting the issue is a domestic matter. The broader system of restrictions, dubbed "gender apartheid" by the UN, impacts women's employment, movement, and access to public spaces like parks, gyms, and beauty salons.

UNESCO says these restrictions have undone two decades of progress, with girls' access to secondary education plummeting from nearly one million in 2021 to the current figure. The organization urges the immediate and unconditional restoration of girls' and women's rights to secondary and higher education. The Taliban ban on education is estimated to exclude around 600,000 women from the workforce by 2066, potentially causing US$9.6 billion in cumulative income losses and worsening a shortage of female teachers.

With over two million primary school children already out of school and poor infrastructure, Afghanistan faces a multifaceted education crisis beyond the gender-specific ban.