KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says nearly four million children in Afghanistan are currently out of school, with poverty, gender-based restrictions, and lack of basic infrastructure cited as major barriers to access.
In a report on Sunday (June 1), UNICEF reported that the absence of proper school buildings, clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, and a severe shortage of qualified teachers, especially women, continues to prevent many children from receiving an education.
Economic hardship is also a key driver. Many children are forced to leave school and take on work to help support their families.
Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are officially banned from attending school beyond the sixth grade. The restriction, now in place for four consecutive academic years, has drawn widespread condemnation.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, women and girls have faced sweeping restrictions. In addition to the ban on secondary schools, the Taliban have barred women from attending universities and working in most sectors, including education and humanitarian aid.
Efforts by international and Islamic organizations to pressure the Taliban into lifting the bans have so far failed. As a result, millions of Afghan girls remain in limbo, cut off from formal education.
UNICEF warned earlier this year that with the start of the new school year, an additional 400,000 girls were affected by the continued ban, bringing the total number of girls excluded from education to 2.2 million.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has described the ban as “catastrophic—not only for the girls whose futures are being stolen, but for the country as a whole.”
“It undermines the health system, weakens the economy, and jeopardizes Afghanistan’s future,” she said, adding that the long-term impact could include a rise in child marriage and a deepening shortage of female health professionals.
“With fewer girls in school, more are at risk of early marriage, which has lasting negative effects on their health and well-being,” she warned. “At the same time, the lack of trained female doctors and midwives puts countless lives at risk.”
