UN raises alarm over 3.8 million out-of-school girls in Afghanistan

The United Nations has warned that Afghanistan risks creating a "lost generation" as nearly 3.8 million girls continue to remain out of school due to restrictions imposed by the Taliban, local media reported on June 9.

Addressing the UN Security Council on Monday, the Acting head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Georgette Gagnon, said an estimated 3.8 million girls aged between seven and 18 years remain out of school, including over 2.6 million adolescent girls banned from secondary education, Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported.

Gagnon stated that approximately 250,000 additional girls are excluded from secondary education each year. She stated that continued restrictions on women and girls have a long-term impact on Afghanistan's social and economic development.

The UN official stated that Afghanistan has shown limited signs of economic stabilisation, with little growth and improved revenue collection. She further stated that up to 2.8 million Afghans are expected to return from neighbouring nations in 2026, putting additional pressure on people who are already facing unemployment, poverty and limited public services.

Around 21.9 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2026, according to the UN. Director of Crisis Response at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Edem Wosornu, stated that 4.7 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity, while 3.7 million children are facing acute malnutrition. She mentioned that humanitarian operations are being affected due to funding shortages.

Since seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has imposed restrictions on Afghan women and girls, including banning girls from attending secondary schools beyond the sixth class, prohibiting women from studying at universities, and imposing restrictions on employment and access to public spaces.

On June 4, the third round of university entrance exams started in Kabul without girls for the fourth consecutive year. Taliban-run National Examination Authority started holding the third round of the university entrance examinations, known as the Kankor, on June 4, with thousands of candidates appearing in the tests at Kabul University, Khaama Press reported. The exam was held for 12th-grade graduates from Kabul province.

Rahimullah Haqqani, the administrative and technical deputy head of the National Examination Authority, said over 110,000 candidates appeared in the first three rounds of the examinations in Afghanistan.

Earlier in March, the new academic year in Afghanistan schools began without girls returning to classrooms above sixth class for the fifth consecutive year.

--IANS