UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has announced that approximately 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been deprived of education since 2021.
In a published report, the organization stated that women and girls have also been banned from attending universities since 2022 and continue to face severe restrictions in employment and participation in public life.
The report highlights that Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are officially prohibited from receiving secondary and higher education.
UNESCO further warned that this ban poses a risk of “losing Afghanistan’s capacities for decades, increasing poverty, and causing irreparable harm.”
The organization estimates that the prohibition on girls’ and women’s education could lead to the exit of 600,000 women from the workforce by 2066, resulting in a total income loss of $9.6 billion and an increased risk of early marriage.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization emphasized that the restriction on women’s higher education will also exacerbate the shortage of female teachers.
According to this agency, over two million children are out of school for reasons other than the prohibitions imposed on girls and women.
UNESCO estimates that by 2030, Afghanistan will face a shortage of more than 11,000 qualified female teachers.
Hoda Jabrian, the UNESCO program coordinator for education in emergencies, stated at a press conference: “Many teachers have left the country, and those who remained in the educational system have been banned from continuing to teach.”
She added: “The decision to prohibit women from teaching boys has not only removed a significant number of qualified teachers and educators from the educational system but has also resulted in boys being taught by unqualified male teachers. As a result, we either have unqualified male teachers or no teachers at all.”
This comes as the interim government, after regaining power, first banned girls above sixth grade from education and then closed the doors of universities and medical institutes.
Despite widespread international criticism of these actions over the past five years, the current government has not retreated from its position.
