A “vicious cycle” caused by the ban on Afghan women accessing higher education is leading to shortages of teachers and health workers, Unesco has warned, five years since the Taliban returned to power.

Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that has formally prohibited women and girls from accessing education beyond primary level, with the effects now being felt starkly by the population.

The Taliban took control of the country in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US and UK troops. It quickly implemented a ban on girls entering primary and secondary education before later extending this to cover the tertiary sector as well.

More than 100,000 Afghan women were enrolled in higher education in December 2022 when the ban was introduced. 

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In a press briefing, Hoda Jaberian, programme coordinator for education in emergencies at Unesco, said that Afghanistan “is facing a crisis of access, a crisis of gender equality, and a crisis of learning at the same time”.

Unesco has said that the five-year-long ban on females entering secondary and higher education is not only harming individual women, but it is also impacting the country’s overall education system, human capital and economic development.

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The UN agency has also calculated that, if the higher education ban continues, there will likely be a cumulative income loss of $9.6 billion (£7.1 billion) had women retiring from the workforce been replaced by similarly educated women.

If the education ban is not reversed, approximately 600,000 women will leave the workforce without being replaced.

The restriction on Afghan women entering higher education means that fewer of them will be able to qualify and work in professional jobs, including teachers, academics and health workers. These are roles that are “needed for the day-to-day running of life for Afghan communities”, said Jaberian.

Based on current projections, Unesco has said that there will be a shortage of 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030.

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Female professors, academics and administrative teams are the “main components of the higher education ecosystem”, said Jaberian. She said that female professors are being replaced at universities with male teachers, some of whom are unqualified, and this is impacting the quality of research and teaching.

Losing female students also financially impacts Afghanistan’s private universities, resulting in a significant decline in revenue and potential teaching staff lay-offs. 

“This is a complete vicious cycle,” said Jaberian. “Fewer girls are able to study, fewer women can become teachers and professionals, and [the] education system little by little loses the human capital it needs to recover.”

Unesco has called for the immediate and unconditional restoration of girls’ and women’s rights to secondary and higher education. The organisation also works with communities to provide literacy classes and skills programme development within Afghan communities which have reached almost 70,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 45.

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rosalind.skillen@timeshighereducation.com