UN says about half of Afghan children out of school

Voice of America · VOA Afghan · 2026-11-05 21:59 UTC

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban banned girls’ secondary and tertiary education in Afghanistan, with primary education the only level of formal schooling accessible to girls. Despite this, girls' enrollment in primary schools remains lower than boys.

Editor's note: this story was translated from the original VOA Pashto article.

The United Nations says half of primary school-age children remain outside of formal general education programs in Afghanistan.

Of the 11.5 million Afghan primary school-age children, only 6.6 million are enrolled in formal primary schools in 2025, UNESCO said in a statement on Wednesday.

Read the full story at Voice of America · All coverage of this story