Before the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021, girls access to education was steadily improving.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education introduced the countrys first Girls Education Policy (GEP). This policy sought to improve womens literacy rates and access to education nationwide. The National Education Strategic Plan and the Girls Education Strategy were working to increase gender equity as well, through initiatives such as hiring 30,000 additional female teachers.
For a decade, I was part of these efforts advocating for change.
Five Afghan girls schools reopen after student demands UN officials urge Afghan authorities to protect girls rightsThis all came to a halt when the Taliban took over and immediately outlawed education for girls after the sixth grade. Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that restricts girls education by law.
Should this ban persist, the consequences would be dire. Millions of girls will face increased abuse and trauma. Families may be forced to leave the country. Additionally, the ban may intensify extremism and lead to billions of dollars in economic losses.
History of progress in girls educationThis is the second time that the Taliban have banned education for girls in Afghanistan. The first time was during their previous regime in the late 1990s. When the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, everything changed. Communities, civil society, the Afghanistan government and international partners, including foreign governments and NGOs, came together to support girls education. Consequently, school enrolments for girls increased dramatically from almost none in 2001 to about 4 million by 2020.
Even with these efforts, there were still significant disparities. In 2019, about 3.7 million children in Afghanistan were out of school, and 60 per cent were girls. Out of the roughly 9.2 million children in school, girls accounted for only 38 per cent, even though they make up about half of the population.
Before the Talibans return to power, the government continued to show a solid commitment to advancing girls education. This included plans to hire new teachers, construct new schools, upgrade learning facilities and increase awareness and social support for the cause.
The landscape of girls education, however, underwent a drastic setback following the collapse of the government in 2021. Within a month of taking power, the Taliban banned girls from secondary schools and rescinded educational policies, including the GEP, through more than a dozen orders.
These changes came as a shock to many Afghans. During peace talks in Qatar in 2019 and 2020, the Talibans chief negotiators promised to uphold womens rights, including the rights to education and work.
Protests against the education ban quickly spread across the nation, reflecting global anger. Western nations strongly urged the Taliban to revoke the ban, a sentiment echoed by many Muslim-majority countries, too. The United Nations issued urgent calls for the Taliban to respect and uphold the educational rights of Afghan girls. International human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented the harmful effects of the ban.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai described the ban as part of a broader gender apartheid in Afghanistan and demanded an immediate end to it. Initiatives such as have been launched to garner support for this cause.
According to a report from the Institute for the Study of War, there is even some opposition to the ban within the Taliban ranks. Some have publicly criticised the decision and sent their own daughters to school secretly.
The bans impact has been catastrophic. Officially, at least 1 million girls have been banned from schools. Unofficially, the number could be twice as high, and it will increase annually as girls graduate from primary school. The ban hit close to home for me as well. My sister was barred from school in her final year three months before graduation.
No easy path forwardWhat are the chances of the Taliban reversing their ban on girls education? To answer this question, its crucial to understand why the Taliban have implemented this drastic policy and the potential implications if they continue to adhere to it.
Initially, the Taliban argued that girls secondary schools conflicted with patriarchal religious and cultural values tha
