Taliban has deliberately deprived 1.4m girls of schooling, says UNESCO
The Taliban has deliberately deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans, UNESCO said on Thursday.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education.
The Taliban, which rose to power exactly three years ago in August 2021, barred education for girls above sixth grade (year seven) because it said it didn’t comply with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law.
There is no ban for boys and the group shows no sign of taking the steps needed to reopen classrooms and campuses for girls and women.
UNESCO said that the number of girls denied access to education increased by 300,000 since April 2023.
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“If we add the girls who were already out of school before the bans were introduced, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing 80% of Afghan school-age girls,” UNESCO said.
Access to primary education has also fallen since the Taliban took power in 2021, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, according to UNESCO data.
“UNESCO is alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate, which could lead to a rise in child labor and early marriage,” it said.
Alison Davidian, the UN Women representative in Afghanistan, said in a post on X: "We cannot leave Afghan women to fight alone. If we do, we have no moral ground to fight for women’s rights anywhere."
One woman, Nasima, said to Davidian: “I was married at 16. I couldn’t finish school. My hope was that my daughter’s life would be better. Now I’m worried her life is going to be worse. To those who are still listening to our voices, please help us fight for our freedom.”
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