Afghanistan opens new school year without girls for fifth straight year

Afghanistan’s new school year began on Thursday without girls above grade six returning to classrooms, marking the fifth consecutive year of the Taliban’s ban on secondary education for girls. The ongoing exclusion has become one of the most entrenched aspects of the Taliban’s governance since their return to power in 2021.

The Taliban’s Education Ministry announced that the 1405 academic year opened in Kabul with senior officials attending a formal ceremony, while schools in colder provinces also resumed classes. However, no mention was made of reopening access for girls beyond the primary level a silence that Afghan families have come to expect as the policy hardens into permanence.

The continued exclusion of girls has drawn renewed anguish from Afghan students, families, and rights groups, who say another year has begun with millions of girls still shut out of classrooms. Many families described the start of the school year as a day of mourning rather than celebration, with daughters left at home watching their brothers leave for school.

UNICEF’s regional director for South Asia, Sanjay Wijesekera, said the new school year should bring hope for all Afghan children and urged the reopening of schools for girls, emphasizing that hope, dignity, and the future begin with education. His appeal echoed statements from multiple UN agencies, which have collectively called the bans a grave violation of fundamental rights.

Former President Hamid Karzai also renewed his appeal, warning that denying girls education and restricting women’s work could seriously harm Afghanistan’s stability, progress, and self-reliance. His remarks reflected a growing consensus among Afghan political figures and civil society that the country’s isolation deepens with each year the bans remain in place.

U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett separately called the bans on women’s and girls’ education unacceptable and urged the Taliban to end the restrictions as soon as possible. He noted that the policies may amount to gender persecution under international law, a charge the Taliban has consistently dismissed as interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

The restrictions have extended far beyond schools. Girls are also barred from universities, vocational institutes, and many other learning spaces, sharply limiting their academic and professional futures. For young women who completed secondary education before the Taliban took power, the closure of universities has meant a sudden and indefinite halt to their studies, with no legal pathway to resume them.

Women continue to face employment restrictions across numerous sectors, including public offices and parts of the aid and civil society sector. These policies have deepened hardship for households already under severe economic strain, as families lose potential income and women are systematically excluded from contributing to their communities.

These policies are unfolding amid one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Millions of Afghans face poverty, food insecurity, unemployment, and heavy dependence on international aid. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that excluding girls from education and women from work is not only a rights issue but also a major obstacle to Afghanistan’s long-term recovery and development. The bans, they note, undercut nearly every pillar of humanitarian and economic stability.

As another school year begins, the absence of girls from classrooms remains one of the clearest symbols of the country’s deepening social crisis. Without a reversal of these restrictions, Afghanistan risks losing another generation of educated girls and further weakening its already fragile future. For many Afghan families, the question is no longer when schools might reopen for their daughters, but whether they ever will.

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