Afghanistan remains the only country where secondary and higher education is effectively closed to girls and women, five years after the de facto authorities came to power. UNICEF warned on Friday that more than 2.6 million girls have been deprived of secondary education during this period.
Girls have been unable to attend formal education beyond sixth grade since September 2021, while women were excluded from universities in December 2022. According to Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, five years represent a critical period in a girl's life, when classrooms offer protection against child labour, early marriage, violence and abuse.
The consequences extend to the health system and the economy. UNICEF estimates that the ban on girls studying and the restriction on women's participation in the labour market cause losses of approximately 84 million dollars in annual economic output. A UNICEF analysis from April warns that Afghanistan could lose as many as 20,000 teachers and 5,400 health workers by 2030, reducing the availability of female professionals in sectors essential to the population.
The deterioration is already visible in the figures. The number of teachers in basic education fell more than 9%, from around 73,000 in 2022 to approximately 66,000 in 2024. Female participation in public administration declined from 21% to 17.7% between 2023 and 2025. This is compounded by the fact that more than 2.7 million people have returned from Iran and Pakistan since 2023, of which 60% are children and young people.
Russell called on the de facto authorities to immediately lift the restrictions. UNICEF continues to support educational opportunities within the country: during 2025, more than 3.7 million children enrolled in public schools received emergency educational support, while another 442,000 participated in community learning programmes, of which 66% were girls.