New York, March 27
The United Nations Women stated that denying Afghan girls access to education is a grave injustice and will haunt generations. The agency calls for safeguarding the fundamental rights of Afghan girls as schools reopen in Afghanistan without them.
It stated that girls should attend schools even as the ban on the education of females by the Afghan Taliban entered its third-consecutive year.
“Girls belong in school. Yet, in Afghanistan, girls are being denied their right to education for the third year in a row, as schools reopen without them. Denying them education is a grave injustice that will haunt generations. Their fundamental rights must be restored, NOW.” UN Women posted on X on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, the UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous warned that it will have generational consequences in Afghanistan if girls are denied education.
“As a new school year begins in Afghanistan, the doors remain shut to thousands of girls — for the third year in a row. This violation of their right to education will haunt generations. Girls must return to school. Their fundamental rights must be restored — without delay,” Sima Bahous posted on X.
According to a UN Women report, since August 2021, the Taliban have systematically dismantled women and girls’ access to education in Afghanistan, enforcing increasingly dire restrictions.
Girls were first banned from secondary schools in March 2022, followed by a suspension from universities in December of the same year.
By January 2023, the Taliban further deepened their oppressive grip by prohibiting girls from taking university entrance exams, effectively erasing the progress that had, in some provinces, seen higher examination participation rates for girls than boys.
In 2024, a UN Women's report on Afghanistan shows that 1.1. million secondary school-aged girls are out of school. While primary schools remain open for girls, enrolment has dropped, because of social norms, access issues, and safety concerns.
The status of women’s rights in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically under Taliban rule.
Decades of hard-fought progress toward gender equality have been obliterated by a web of oppressive directives. It has been projected that the Afghan economy will lose $9.6 billion by 2066 if the suspension of women’s access to higher education remains in place
Recently, several women activists have launched a campaign titled 'Let's Study' to mark the start of the new academic year, condemning the Taliban's ban on education.
In an online statement, the activists stated that with the start of the new school year, another 400,000 girls have been deprived of education as the Taliban prohibits Afghan girls from accessing secondary and higher education.
The campaign, organised by women's rights protesters in the South Asian nation, also urged the international community to support Afghan women in their struggle for access to education against the “ignorant terrorist group” Taliban's ban.
