Protecting education for all Afghans
In Afghanistan, decades of progress in development have been rolled back since 2021. Denied the fundamental right to education, millions of Afghan girls and women face an uncertain future. In the face of crisis, UNESCO is striving to ensure the continuity of education.
Education in Afghanistan
Millions of children and young people in Afghanistan, particularly girls and young women, are currently denied access to education. Data published by UNESCO in 2024 indicates that at least 1.4 million girls have been prohibited from accessing secondary education since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. While education is still permitted for girls under the age of 12, primary enrolment rates have also dropped sharply from 6.8 million in 2019, to 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022. Since 20 December 2022, women have also been banned from universities, denying access to higher education to more than 100,000 young women.
As previously evidenced in the 2021 UNESCO Report “The right to education: what’s at stake in Afghanistan? A 20-year-review,” significant gains had been made in terms of access to education in the decades leading up to August 2021. Forty years of war, recurrent natural disasters, chronic poverty, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic, had already taken a huge toll on the Afghan people. Despite this, progress had still been made in enrolment at all education levels.
Since the de facto authorities took over in August 2021, however, those gains have been steadily erased, and a generation in crisis faces an uncertain future. Alongside other public services, the education system has been hit hard, and the right to education for Afghan children and youth, especially girls and women, is in jeopardy.
Compounding the crisis and exacerbating poverty are directives banning women from working for international and national non-governmental organizations (I/NGOs) and the United Nations.
UNESCO’s response
UNESCO has been supporting education in Afghanistan since the Organization’s inception and continues to do so, particularly through direct engagement with communities to secure continuity of learning for all. The women and girls of Afghanistan remain at the forefront of UNESCO’s advocacy and operational support in education, helping to ensure that not all gains are lost. Additionally, UNESCO has been working in neighboring countries in the region to enhance access to education for displaced Afghans.
In close coordination with other education partners, UNESCO has developed the Afghanistan Education Sector Support Plan (AESSP) to respond to both immediate and medium-term education needs in Afghanistan and neighboring countries. As part of the UN Country Team, in line with the UN Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (2023-2025) and the Afghanistan Education Sector Transitional Framework, UNESCO is focusing on concrete activities to ensure, protect and prioritize the right of education for all Afghan people, especially girls and women, including through:
- Providing community-based literacy classes throughout Afghanistan.
- Supporting the development of teacher training tools and manuals to ensure quality of teaching and learning for all education partners in Afghanistan.
- Monitoring access and delivery of higher education, as well as offering alternative solutions for female Afghan former university students.
- Providing alternative learning solutions to ensure improved access to education through media covering the production and dissemination of educational radio programs for Grades 7-9.
- Developing learning assessment frameworks to be used by all education partners throughout Afghanistan.
- Developing a female teacher training hub for female Afghan refugees, as well as non-formal education solutions for Afghan children, in Iran.
Press release: 1.4 million girls still banned from school by de facto authorities
For more information, read UNESCO’s reports:
The right to education: What is at stake in Afghanistan? A 20-year review
