Desk
Share
The United Nations Children’s Agency pleaded with the Taliban leaders of Afghanistan to remove the ban preventing girls from going to school. This request is made in an attempt to protect the futures of millions of girls who have not been given the opportunity to learn since the Taliban regained power in 2021.
UNICEF’s request comes during the start of the new school year in Afghanistan which still does not accommodate girls above sixth grade. Without this consideration, the agency estimates an additional 400,000 girls have been prevented from learning, which tallies up to 2.2 million in total.
Aside from Afghanistan being one of the 31 countries that forbids women secondary and higher education, it is the only one that allows this restriction to be used as a means of justifying an extremist interpretation of Sharia or Islamic law.
“For over three years, the rights of girls in Afghanistan have been infringed upon,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF. “Not only should these girls be allowed to return to school, they must be allowed to return to school right now. As capable and bright as these young girls currently are, if they are forced to continue being denied an education, the consequences will persist for generations to come.”
She argues that hindering the education of girls is someone trying to set a paramount long-term damage for over a hundred’s of thousands if not millions of Afghan girls. She further stated that in the absence of education and continuation of the ban until 2030, “more than four million girls would have lost the ability beyond primary school education.” In the aggregate, she further implied would be utterly abysmal.
Russell also expressed concern about the increase in the skilled female physician and midwife shortage. These healthcare workers have the greatest responsibility for attending women and girls leading to an extra projected maternal mortality of 1600 and 3500 infant deaths. “These aren’t just figures they depict destroyed lives and families,” she stated.
Earlier this year, the Taliban government of Afghanistan did not attend a global gathering in Pakistan where the Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai criticized the Afghan approach towards the rights of women and girls as gender-based apartheid.
Read More: Vietnam Surges Ahead in Southeast Asia Tourism with Record-Breaking Growth in 2024
