UN Condemns Taliban Ban On Afghan Girls’ Education

The United Nations urged the Taliban on Sunday to reopen high schools for girls across Afghanistan, condemning the ban as “tragic and shameful.”

Weeks after the Taliban seized power in August last year, it reopened high schools for boys on September 18, 2021, but banned secondary schoolgirls from attending classes.

Months later on March 23, the education ministry opened secondary schools for girls, but within hours the Taliban leadership ordered classes to be shut again.

Since then, teenage girls have been deprived of education across the country.

Markus Potzel, the acting head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said; “This is a tragic, shameful, and entirely avoidable anniversary.

“It is profoundly damaging to a generation of girls and to the future of Afghanistan itself."

Also, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban to revoke the ban.

“A year of lost knowledge and opportunity that they will never get back.

"Girls belong in school. The Taliban must let them back in.”