Afghanistan Schools Program

From 2003 until the last year of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (IRA) in 2021, ASP delivered diverse education programs in Borjegai and Jirghai communities of Nawur district of Ghazni Province, Behsud district of Maidan Wardak Province, and some villages of Bamyan Province of Afghanistan. We supported our partner communities to construct buildings for 16 public schools; provide desks, chairs, and drinking water for 25 schools; support qualified teachers including some female teachers; and provide learning materials like school textbooks and literary, science, and history books. Consequently, girls’ attendance rate increased from around 10% in 2004 to nearly 40% in 2021, and more than 1,000 students from our local partner communities graduated from Afghanistan’s higher education institutions. Some of the university graduates returned to work as teachers and principals in their primary and secondary schools.

After the fall of the IRA in August 2021, the subsequent Taliban regime has increased their support for religious Sunni madrasas and limited girls’ education to primary levels (Grades 1-6). As we reported in our recent iNK Magazine, they issued a further decree to prohibit girls and women from attending higher education institutions in December 2022. Their restrictive gender measures have forced around 2 million female students out of secondary schools and around
100,000 female students to leave their study incomplete in public and private higher education.

The Taliban’s restrictive gender measures have exacerbated existing gender inequities in Afghanistan’s schools and higher education. Prior to the Taliban’s return to power, for example, girls made 60 percent of around 3.7 million out-of-school children and around a quarter of higher education students. At the same time, humanitarian needs have increased in most parts of the country because of deteriorating economy, natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, and international sanctions against the Taliban regime. According to the UN, around 23.7 million – more than half of the country’s estimated population – require humanitarian assistance to survive this year. Sadly, most of those in need of humanitarian support are young children and women.

Nonetheless, UNICEF has maintained its leading role to provide salary for most teachers in Afghanistan’s schools including to most teachers in our partner communities since August 2021. This followed international sanction exemptions in 2021 and 2022 that allowed UN agencies and international NGOs to support education and health sectors in Afghanistan alongside the humanitarian relief programs. In 2024, however, the UN-led efforts to provide humanitarian assistance have been impeded by a significant gap between existing needs and available funding. In April, for example, the UN humanitarian coordinator raised concerns about reduced official aid to Afghanistan and stated that UN agencies secured only $290 million or 6% of the $3.06 billion required funds.