The Taliban are promising to soon allow girls in Afghanistan to attend secondary education. This was announced by UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi to reporters at the UN headquarters.
Abdi noted that five of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces (Balkh, Jowzjan, Samangan, Kunduz and Uruzgan) have already allowed girls to attend secondary school.
A UNICEF spokesman said he is putting pressure on the Taliban to allow girls to attend school at every meeting. “Over the past two decades, about 10 million children, including 4 million girls, continue to study at all stages, and the number of schools has increased from 6 thousand to 18 thousand over the past ten years,” continued Abdi.
However, despite the progress made, 4.2 million Afghan children, including 2.6 million girls, do not go to school, a UNICEF official said.
The educational achievements of the past twenty years should be strengthened, not set back, Abdi added.