A new school year has begun in Afghanistan with more than 2.2 million girls excluded from secondary education, a top UNICEF official said on Saturday.
Since the Taliban returned to power some four years ago, girls have been banned from attending secondary school.
“The consequences for these girls – and for Afghanistan – are catastrophic,” said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.
Russell warned that the ban leaves girls in Afghanistan at a higher risk of child marriage.
She also highlighted the impact on the country’s health system and economy.
“With fewer female doctors and midwives, girls and women will not receive the medical treatment and support they need,” said Russell. “We are estimating an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths.”
The Taliban regime initially said it was only suspending secondary education for girls until unspecified conditions were met, but no progress has been made on returning female pupils to classrooms.
The regime’s deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Abbas Staniksai, criticized the ban as un-Islamic earlier this year, with reports suggesting he later fled the country.
In the western city of Herat, 14-year-old Parwana told dpa that she wanted to become a doctor, but has not been able to attend school for two years.
“I am very sad that I cannot fulfil my wish – and that of my family,” said Parwana, who is instead attending a sewing course.
Some private education institutes in Afghanistan offer girls and women courses in individual subjects, mostly foreign languages.
For many female schoolgirls and students, the institutes offer one of the last remaining opportunities to learn, at least to a limited extent, but they are no substitute for formal schooling.
“If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations,” said Russell. “Afghanistan cannot leave half of its population behind.”
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