Afghanistan: 20 years of steady education progress ‘almost wiped out’

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The de facto authorities in Afghanistan “have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education” there, putting the future of an entire generation in jeopardy, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural agency (UNESCO) reported on Wednesday. 

Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden to women and girls over 12.

The Taliban swept back into power on 15 August 2021 and swiftly began curtailing women’s rights.

Three years to the day after the fall of Kabul, the nation’s capital, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education because of the bans. 

Including the girls who were already out of school before the Taliban’s reimposition of strict religious legal codes, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing 80 per cent of Afghan school age girls.

There has also been a decrease by over half of the number of students enrolled in universities since 2021, UNESCO said. As a result, the country will face a shortage of graduates trained for highly skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate development problems, according to the report.

Equally strong impact on primary education

While girls’ education is technically still permitted under the age of 12, the number of those enrolled in primary education has fallen drastically since 2021.

New UNESCO data shows that Afghanistan had only 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019. 

© UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell

Girls and women across Afghanistan lack access to secondary education since the Taliban takeover.

This drop in primary school enrolment is the result of the Taliban’s decision to prohibit female teachers from teaching boys, exacerbating a teacher shortage. It can also be explained by parents’ lack of incentive to send their children to school, in an increasingly difficult socio-economic environment.

It is feared that the increasing drop-out rate could lead to a rise in child labour and early marriage.

UNESCO’s alternative learning methods

Since 2021, UNESCO has set up programmes with the support of local communities in 20 of the country’s 34 provinces. Over 1,000 facilitators, including 780 women, have been trained to deliver literacy courses, benefiting over 55,000 young people, the vast majority of them girls.

UNESCO also invests in distance learning via radio and television, providing financial support and training to Afghan media wishing to develop and broadcast educational programmes. 

The UN agency continues to call on the international community to fully commit to restoring the right to education for girls and women in Afghanistan, stating that face-to-face education in a classroom is the best possible way for people to learn.

“The right to education cannot be negotiated or compromised. The international community must remain fully mobilised to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women,” emphasised Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.

© UNHCR/Mercury Transformations

Young women who fled Afghanistan study in Pakistan.

International community must not ‘normalise’ Taliban rule

Meanwhile 36 UN independent experts are also calling on the international community not to normalise the de facto authorities in Afghanistan in a joint statement released Wednesday.

The rights experts who report to the Human Rights Council and who are not UN staff include the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett.

“Over the past three years, the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, have been subjected to an appalling and intensifying attack on their rights and freedoms by a regime that lacks legitimacy and inclusivity, quashes all forms of dissent, represses civil society and the media, and has shown a flagrant disregard for the principles of justice, non-discrimination, equality, and the rule of law,” the rights experts stated.

The experts emphasised that the deliberate subjugation of women and girls is so widespread and systematic that it has come to amount to crimes against humanity, including the crime of gender persecution.

The situation is so extreme that many Afghans say it is best described as “gender apartheid”.

“The people of Afghanistan deserve to live in a country where the rights, dignity, and humanity of all are respected and protected. Now more than ever, is the time for robust international action to meet their demands with increased protection, support and solidarity,” they concluded.