UNICEF and UNESCO Warn of Deepening Learning Crisis in Afghanistan Amid Education Day

On World Education Day, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced that the education situation in Afghanistan has reached a concerning stage, with a widespread learning crisis continuing. In a joint statement released on Saturday, January 24, these two agencies reported that 93 percent of Afghan children do not acquire adequate reading skills by the end of primary school—a sign of serious weaknesses in the education system and poor quality of schooling in the country. The statement further noted that approximately 2.2 million adolescent girls have been deprived of schooling, a deprivation that has intensified since the Taliban took control, systematically restricting girls’ access to secondary and higher education. The international educational organizations emphasized that continuing this situation poses a serious threat to the future of Afghanistan’s young generation. They called on the Taliban administration to lift the restrictions imposed on education—especially girls’ education—and to facilitate equal access for all children to quality education.