UNESCO: Taliban Barred 2.4 Million Afghan Girls From School

A group called UNESCO, which helps countries with schools and learning, says the Taliban have stopped about 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan from going to secondary school.

The Taliban are a group that has been in charge of Afghanistan since 2021.

Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls and women are officially not allowed to go to secondary school or university.

The Taliban promised when they took over that girls could keep studying, but in March 2022 they closed secondary schools to girls, and in December 2022 they banned women from universities.

UNESCO says this is very bad for Afghanistan's future, because fewer women will be able to work and the country could become poorer.

Without enough female teachers, some boys are being taught by unqualified teachers or have no teacher at all.

UNESCO also found that most 10-year-olds in Afghanistan cannot read a simple sentence, and nearly half of schools lack water, basic toilets, or heating.

In 2025, about 3 million people came back to Afghanistan, which put even more pressure on schools.

The Taliban say they are respecting women's rights according to their own beliefs and rules, but UNESCO says the bans are a grave violation of basic human rights.