Five Years On, 2.4 Million Afghan Girls Still Barred From School

Five years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, an estimated 2.4 million girls remain shut out of secondary education, according to a United Nations agency. UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural and educational body, made the announcement on Tuesday, describing the ongoing exclusion as a severe breach of fundamental rights.

Speaking via video conference, Hoda Jaberian, UNESCO's program coordinator for education in emergencies, stressed that the length of the ban has turned a temporary disruption into a permanent loss. "Five years is not a temporary interruption in a child's education. It is clearly almost an entire secondary school cycle," she said.

Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls and women are formally prohibited from attending secondary and higher education. Jaberian reiterated UNESCO's demand for the immediate and unconditional restoration of these rights, calling it a non-negotiable basic human right.

The Taliban seized control on August 15, 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces. Shortly after, they barred girls from secondary schools, later extending the restrictions to universities, employment, and other areas of public life. The ban has remained in place despite international pressure from the U.N., humanitarian groups, and several Islamic nations, with the Taliban insisting it is an internal matter.

Jaberian noted that the restrictions have undone significant progress made in the two decades before the takeover. In 2001, girls' access to schooling was extremely limited, but by 2021, nearly one million girls were enrolled in secondary education. "Afghanistan had made really major progress in expanding girls' access to education," she said. "Unfortunately, much of that progress now has been completely reversed."

Despite the ban, UNESCO continues to operate community-based education, literacy, and skills development programs. These classes are held in community spaces, often in the homes of trained literacy facilitators, with the knowledge of local authorities. The agency says more than 1,000 facilitators, most trained by UNESCO and its partners, are currently active.

"While the restriction remains, we cannot abandon Afghan learners," Jaberian said, adding that UNESCO is working with communities to preserve every possible pathway to learning.