UNESCO: 2.4 million girls barred from school in Afghanistan

Published 11 August 2026 · world

Five years after the Taliban returned to power, millions of Afghan girls remain excluded from secondary education. UNESCO warns of lasting social and economic consequences

Five years after the Taliban returned to power, millions of Afghan girls remain excluded from secondary education. UNESCO warns of lasting social and economic consequences. Around 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, UNESCO said Tuesday. The figure has risen by about 200,000 since last year and could reach nearly four million by 2030 if the ban remains in place. "Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls and women are formally banned from secondary and higher education," Hoda Jaberian, UNESCO’s program coordinator for education in emergencies, said. "Five years is not a temporary interruption in a child’s education. It is clearly almost an entire secondary school cycle." Why are Afghan girls banned from secondary schools and universities? The Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, as US and NATO forces withdrew after two decades of war. They initially assured the international community that women would be allowed to continue studying. Taliban fighters took control of Afghanistan's presidential palace in Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country [FILE: August 15, 2021] Image: Zabi Karim/AP/picture alliance But secondary schools were closed to girls in March 2022.

Women were barred from universities in December that year. The Taliban described both measures as temporary, but they remain in force. The authorities say they respect women's rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture. They have also insisted the issue is a domestic matter. Restrictions extend beyond education. Women face limits on employment and movement and have been barred from public parks, gyms and beauty salons. The UN has described the broader system of restrictions as “gender apartheid.” Russia is the only country to formally recognize the Taliban administration. What has happened to girls' education since the Taliban takeover? UNESCO says the restrictions have reversed two decades of progress. Girls had very limited access to schooling in 2001. By 2021, nearly one million were enrolled in secondary education. "Afghanistan had made really major progress in expanding girls’ access to education," Jaberian said. "But unfortunately, much of that progress now has been completely reversed." UNESCO has called for the immediate and unconditional restoration of girls' and women's right to secondary and higher education. The agency continues to support community-based education as well as literacy and skills programs, often held in community spaces or facilitators' homes.