Politics Unicef: School starts without millions of girls in Afghanistan
The new school year has begun in Afghanistan - but classes remain closed for older girls for the fourth year in a row. Under the ruling Islamist Taliban, education is forbidden for girls from the seventh grade onwards. According to the UN Children's Fund Unicef, 2.2 million girls in the country are affected by the school ban.
22.03.2025, 12:16
SDA
The consequences are catastrophic for Afghan girls and the country as a whole, said Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell. The ban would have a negative impact on the health system, the economy and the future of the nation.
In the past, the Taliban had said that they only wanted to suspend education for older girls until unspecified conditions were created. So far, however, nothing has been done in this direction. At the beginning of this year, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Abbas Staniksai, criticized the ban on education as un-Islamic.
Destroyed girls' dreams
14-year-old Parwana from the city of Herat actually wanted to become a doctor, she tells the German Press Agency. Now she has not been able to attend school for two years "I am very sad that I cannot fulfill my wish and that of my family." To distract herself from her loneliness and sadness, she attends a sewing course.
Some private educational institutes offer girls and women courses in individual subjects, mostly foreign languages. For many former schoolgirls and students, these are one of the last opportunities to learn, at least to a limited extent, but are no substitute for formal schooling.
"If these bright, capable young girls continue to be denied an education, the effects will be felt for generations," warned Russell.
