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, extending for a fifth straight year the Taliban’s ban on secondary education for girls.

The Taliban’s Education Ministry said the 1405 academic year opened in Kabul with senior officials attending a formal ceremony, while schools in colder provinces also resumed classes.

The continued exclusion of girls has drawn renewed concern from Afghan students, families and rights groups, who say another year has begun with millions of girls still shut out of classrooms.

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, saying hope, dignity and the future begin with education.

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.

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.

The restrictions have gone beyond schools, with girls also barred from universities, institutes and many other learning spaces, sharply limiting their academic and professional futures.

Women also continue to face employment restrictions in many sectors, including public offices and parts of the aid and civil society sector, deepening hardship for households already under economic strain.

These policies are unfolding amid one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with millions of Afghans facing 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.

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.

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