UN calls out Taliban for barring 2.4M girls from Afghan schools

While many women pursue higher education worldwide, girls in Afghanistan are not even allowed to step into secondary schools. This drove the United Nations (U.N.) on Tuesday, August 11, to condemn the Taliban after denying educational access to over 2.4 million girls.

After the Taliban returned to power in 2021, authorities implemented a policy to ban girls from studying beyond primary school in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) program coordinator Hoda Jaberian highlighted that Afghanistan remains the only country in the world to deny education to women, violating basic human rights.

"Five years is not a temporary interruption in a child's education, it is clearly almost an entire secondary school cycle,” Jaberian said.

The program coordinator stated that the organization will continue to call for the restoration of women's right to further education, dictating that there are no alternative modes or negotiations for it.

UNESCO reported that since last year, the number of girls barred from secondary education had increased by 200,000.

In addition, they claimed that nearly four million girls could be denied education by 2030 if the ban continues.

The Taliban administration also imposed restrictive laws against women, including work, public life, and other sectors.