At least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The future of an entire generation is at stake, UNESCO has warned.
Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, the UN organization said in a statement. Today marks three years since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.
UNESCO is alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive rate of dropping out of the education system, which could lead to an increase in child labor and early marriages, reported AFP.
In just three years, the de facto authorities have nearly destroyed two decades of steady progress in education in Afghanistan, and the future of an entire generation is now at stake.
There are currently nearly 2.5 million girls deprived of the right to education, representing 80% of Afghan girls of school age.
The Taliban administration, which is not recognized by any other country, has imposed restrictions on women that the UN has described as "gender apartheid".
Afghanistan is the only country in the world that stops girls and women from attending secondary schools and universities.
"As a result of bans imposed by the authorities, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since 2021," UNESCO announced.
This represents an increase of 300,000 since the previous count carried out by the UN agency in April 2023.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay called on the international community to be mobilized "to achieve the unconditional reopening of schools and universities for Afghan girls and women."
The number of students in the primary stage has also decreased. Afghanistan had only 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared to 6.8 million in 2019.
The UN agency blamed the decline on the authorities' decision to ban female teachers from teaching boys, as well as a lack of incentive for parents to send their children to school.
Enrollment in higher education is equally worrisome. The number of students has decreased by 53 percent since 2021.
"As a result, the country will quickly face a shortage of graduates trained for the most highly skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate the problems," UNESCO warned. I BGNES
