By The South Asia Times

KABUL -  More than half of primary school-age children in Afghanistan remain outside the formal education system, according to a new report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), highlighting a deepening education crisis in the country.

The Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2026, released on November 4, found that 53 percent of primary school-age children in Afghanistan were not enrolled in formal general education, despite continued demand for schooling.

The report also highlighted restrictions on girls' education, saying more than 2.6 million girls have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Girls remain barred from secondary schools beyond Grade 6, while women are also prohibited from attending universities under the Taliban government's education policies.

UNICEF and UNESCO said community-based education, literacy programmes, distance learning and private tutoring remain among the few available learning opportunities for adolescent girls, but these alternatives cannot replace formal schooling.

By October 2026, around 5,300 community-based classes were operating across Afghanistan, serving approximately 162,000 learners, 64 percent of them girls, the report said.

The report noted that Afghanistan's school-age population increased from approximately 10.4 million in 2019 to 11.5 million in 2024, putting additional pressure on an already overstretched education system.

Despite an increase in enrolment, with approximately 6.6 million children attending public primary schools in 2025, enrolment growth has failed to keep pace with population growth.

The UN agencies also raised concerns about the quality of education. An assessment of more than 55,000 pupils across all 34 provinces found that fewer than half of Grade 4 students achieved minimum proficiency in language skills for Grade 3, while only one in four met the minimum proficiency level in mathematics.

Early childhood education also remains extremely limited, with fewer than one in 100 children aged three to four participating in early learning programmes.

The report further said that approximately 1.23 million Afghans had returned to the country by September 2026, including more than 245,000 children requiring educational support.

Afghanistan's higher education sector has also suffered a substantial decline following restrictions on women's university education. Around 208,000 students were enrolled in higher education institutions in 2026, compared with approximately 430,000 in 2020, the report said.

UNICEF and UNESCO called on the Taliban authorities to restore the right to education for Afghan girls and women and increase investment in teachers, learning materials and educational infrastructure.

However, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the findings, describing the UNICEF and UNESCO report as inaccurate and an attempt by some international organisations to raise funds by portraying Afghanistan's situation negatively.

He claimed that educational facilities existed throughout the country and that families were sending their children to receive education.

Acknowledging that some remote areas might have limited access to educational facilities, he said such cases involved only a small percentage of the population.