2.5 Million Girls Are Denied Of Education Since Taliban Return (image@ unicef.org)

Reportedly, at least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied secondary education since Taliban took over in 2021. The future of an entire generation is now “in jeopardy”, said the United Nations’ cultural agency. Primary education for girls also sharply depleted.

There are 1.1 million or fewer girls and boys alone attending school compared to earlier. In a statement, UNESCO said that it is alarmed by the harmful consequences that is on the way due to the massive drop-out. It said it could lead to child labour and early marriage.

Nearly 2.5 million girls are now denied of their right to education. The figure represents 80 percent of Afghanistan’s school-aged girls.

“In just three years, the de facto authorities have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Kabul, and the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy”, read the statement.

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The Taliban administration has imposed restrictions on women which the UN described as “gender apartheid”. Afghanistan is the only country in the world to deny girls and women from attending schools and universities.

“As a result of bans imposed by the de facto authorities, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since 2021”, said UNESCO.

The number is an increase of 300,000 since count carried out by UN in April last year.

Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO, urged the international community to intervene “to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities of Afghan girls and women”.

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The number of students in primary school also came down. In 2019, there were 6.8 students, which was fallen to 5.7 million in 2022.

UN blamed the fall of pupils on the Afghan authorities’ decision to ban female teachers from teaching boys as well as the lack of incentives for parents to send children to the school.

Situation of higher education in the country is also concerning, said UNESCO. The number of university students have dropped 53 percent since 2021. “As a result, the country will rapidly face a shortage of graduates trained for the most highly-skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate development problems”, read the statement.