Education Crisis in Afghanistan: Over Two Million Children Out of School
Afghanistan’s education system is on the brink of a severe crisis. A recent report by UNICEF and UNESCO titled “The State of Education in Afghanistan 2025” warns that restrictive policies, lack of investment, and ongoing humanitarian crises threaten the future of Afghanistan’s children with devastation.
According to the report, more than 2.13 million children of primary school age remain out of school, and the majority of students attending schools lack adequate basic literacy due to poor education quality. Estimates show that 90 percent of ten-year-old children cannot read a simple text.
UNICEF and UNESCO attribute the current situation to a severe shortage of teachers, especially female educators, weak educational oversight, insufficient resources, and infrastructure destruction. Nearly half of schools lack drinking water, sanitation facilities, or heating systems, and over 1,000 schools have been closed due to damage from war and natural disasters.
Analyses show that the ban on secondary education for girls has deprived around 2.2 million adolescent girls of schooling. Meanwhile, boys’ enrollment in secondary education has remained steady, but their participation in higher education has dropped by 40 percent between 2019 and 2024.
The report emphasizes that sustainable investment in primary education and foundational skills in literacy and mathematics is critical. Without this, Afghanistan’s young generation will lose the necessary skills for higher education and employment. In 2021, the national literacy rate was only 37 percent (52 percent for males and 27 percent for females), ranking among the lowest globally.
Alongside restrictive policies, Afghanistan’s education sector is under pressure from layered humanitarian crises. In 2025, nearly 8.9 million children, including 888,000 children with disabilities, will require emergency educational assistance. The return of 2.7 million migrants from Iran and Pakistan – 60 percent of whom are children and youth – has further strained the education system.
UNICEF and UNESCO call on the governing authorities to immediately lift the ban on education for girls and women at the secondary and higher levels. Estimates indicate that if these restrictions persist, nearly 4 million girls will be denied secondary education by 2030, resulting in severe economic and social consequences. UNESCO has warned that excluding women from higher education could cause economic losses amounting to $9.6 billion by 2066 – equivalent to two-thirds of Afghanistan’s current GDP.
Finally, UNICEF and UNESCO urge the global community, financial institutions, and governments to make sustained investments in education to prevent the complete collapse of Afghanistan’s education system. They stress that the hopes of the Afghan people for education remain alive, but hope alone is insufficient. Only bold and long-term investment can transform this hope into genuine progress.
