Afghanistan Peace Campaign
The United Nations has again called on the authorities to reopen secondary schools and universities to girls and ensure women and girls in Afghanistan can access education at all levels without restrictions.
Georgette Gagnon, the acting head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), made the call during a recent visit to Istalif, north of Kabul, where she visited a girls’ primary school equipped with computers through a UN Development Programme-supported initiative.
Gagnon highlighted the importance of girls having access to information and communications technology and urged the Taliban authorities to remove restrictions preventing girls from continuing their education beyond primary school.
Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is formally prohibited for girls and women. UNESCO and UNICEF said in January that about 2.2 million adolescent girls were excluded from secondary school as a result of the restrictions.
The wider education crisis is even larger. In a June 2026 briefing to the UN Security Council, Gagnon said an estimated 3.8 million girls aged 7 to 18 were out of school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. She said about 250,000 additional girls are permanently excluded from secondary education each year.
The prolonged restrictions have consequences beyond access to classrooms. UNESCO and UNICEF have warned that excluding girls from education is weakening Afghanistan’s future workforce and contributing to shortages in professions and essential public services.
UNESCO has also warned that Afghanistan’s education crisis extends beyond the ban on girls’ secondary schooling. More than 2.13 million primary-school-age children were out of school in 2024, while learning outcomes remain extremely weak, with more than 90% of 10-year-olds unable to read a simple text, according to its 2025 education report.
The UN has repeatedly urged the Taliban authorities to lift restrictions on women and girls, arguing that education is a fundamental right and essential to Afghanistan’s social and economic development. Gagnon has also warned that the continued exclusion of women and girls carries long-term generational consequences for the country.
The latest appeal comes as international officials continue to warn that prolonged restrictions risk leaving Afghanistan without a generation of women equipped to enter skilled professions, weakening the country’s education, healthcare and wider economy.