Around 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, UNESCO said on Tuesday.

The figure has risen by about 200,000 since last year and could reach nearly four million by 2030 if the ban remains in place.

"Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls and women are formally banned from secondary and higher education," said Hoda Jaberian, UNESCO's program coordinator for education in emergencies. "Five years is not a temporary interruption in a child's education. It is clearly almost an entire secondary school cycle."

The Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, as US and NATO forces withdrew after two decades of war. They initially assured the international community that women would be allowed to continue studying. But secondary schools were closed to girls in March 2022, and women were barred from universities in December that year. The Taliban described both measures as temporary, but they remain in force.

The authorities say they respect women's rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture, insisting the issue is a domestic matter. Restrictions extend beyond education: women face limits on employment and movement and have been barred from public parks, gyms, and beauty salons. The UN has described the broader system of restrictions as "gender apartheid."

UNESCO says the restrictions have reversed two decades of progress. Girls had very limited access to schooling in 2001, but by 2021, nearly one million were enrolled in secondary education. "Afghanistan had made really major progress in expanding girls' access to education," Jaberian said. "But unfortunately, much of that progress now has been completely reversed."

UNESCO has called for the immediate and unconditional restoration of girls' and women's right to secondary and higher education. The agency continues to support community-based education as well as literacy and skills programs. However, the consequences are severe: excluding women from secondary and higher education could push around 600,000 women out of the workforce by 2066, cause cumulative income losses of $9.6 billion, and increase the risk of early marriage.

The ban is also worsening a shortage of female teachers. UNESCO expects Afghanistan to face a deficit of more than 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030. Many teachers have left the country, and those who remain are banned from teaching.

Afghanistan's education system faces problems far beyond the ban on girls. More than two million primary school children are already out of school for other reasons, and over 90% of 10-year-olds cannot read a simple text. Nearly half of schools lack water, sanitation, or heating. The system is also under pressure from returnees: three million people returned in 2025 alone, and over seven million have returned or been forced back since 2023. Natural disasters have forced around 1,000 schools to close since 2021.

Source: www.dw.com