According to a UN study, the Taliban's ban on women receiving secondary and higher education has deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of education since 2021.
The Afghan government banned girls from continuing to secondary education in March 2022, and then banned them from attending university in December of the same year. The ban limits educational opportunities for girls over the age of 12, and more than 300,000 girls have been affected by the ban since the UN's last tally in April 2023. According to From a press release by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“When including girls who were already out of school before the ban was introduced, approximately 2.5 million girls in Afghanistan are currently denied their right to an education, representing 80 percent of school-age Afghan girls,” the press release said.
This photo taken on September 20, 2021, shows young female students raising their hands during class at Gauhar Shad Begum School in Herat province. (Photo by HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021, handing the country over to the Taliban, who had pledged when they took power in the country that schools would remain open as long as they were separate for boys and girls, but have since reneged on that promise. (Related: Taliban break international promise, won't allow girls to attend school beyond sixth grade)
“UNESCO is alarmed at the harmful consequences of a sharp increase in dropout rates, which could lead to an increase in child labour and early marriage,” the press release said.
According to a press release, the Taliban have not only barred girls from accessing secondary and higher education, but have also banned girls from teaching boys. This change has reduced total primary school enrolment, both boys and girls, from 6.8 million in 2019 to 5.7 million in 2022.
“In just three years, De facto “The authorities have all but erased two decades of steady progress in education in Afghanistan, and now the future of an entire generation is at risk,” the press release said.
According to the press release, Afghanistan remains the only country that actively prohibits women from accessing secondary and higher education.
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