KABUL – The head of UNESCO has called on world governments to intensify diplomatic pressure on the Taliban to immediately and unconditionally reopen secondary schools and universities to Afghan girls and women, warning that an entire generation’s future is at stake.
Marking four years since the Taliban’s return to power, UNESCO said Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are banned from education beyond the primary level. The organization estimates that nearly 2.2 million girls are currently barred from classrooms.
“This right is non-negotiable,” said Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Secretary-General. “Until the day Afghan girls can return to school, let us not abandon them.”
Since their takeover, the Taliban have issued more than 70 decrees curtailing women’s rights, including their exclusion from education, public life, and the media. The group’s 2024 morality laws forbid the depiction of human figures and bans women from speaking on the radio. UNESCO says over 80% of women working in Afghan media have lost their jobs since 2021.
The agency warned that this systematic erasure of women undermines Afghanistan’s development, with half the population already living below the poverty line.
Between 2001 and 2021, coordinated international efforts had transformed the country’s education system, increasing student numbers tenfold and raising girls’ primary school enrollment from nearly zero to over 80%. The literacy rate among women nearly doubled in that period.
UNESCO said it is supporting alternative learning initiatives, including literacy programs in 2,600 villages, educational broadcasts through local media partners, and the SOLAx online platform, which delivers lessons via WhatsApp. These programs have reached an estimated 17 million people, though they remain under threat from Taliban restrictions.
The agency stressed that such alternatives cannot replace formal schooling and called on the global community to resist efforts to normalize relations with the Taliban without restoring Afghan women’s rights.
