A new school year began in Afghanistan without more than 2.2 million girls excluded from secondary education, a senior UNICEF official said.
Girls have been banned from high school since the Taliban returned to power four years ago.
“The consequences for these girls and for Afghanistan are catastrophic,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
She warned that the ban leaves girls in Afghanistan at greater risk of child marriage and pointed to the negative impact on the country’s health system and economy.
“With fewer doctors and midwives, girls and women will not receive the medical treatment and support they need,” Raselova said.
She added that UNICEF estimates that the consequence will be an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and more than 3,500 newborn deaths, DPA reported.
The Taliban regime initially announced that it was suspending secondary education for girls until conditions it never defined were met, but in the meantime, no progress has been made in terms of returning female students to classrooms.
