Afghanistan faces a severe and growing shortage of women in critical public services, with more than 25,000 female teachers and health workers projected to be lost by 2030.

The United Nations Children’s Fund gave the warning in a report. UNICEF described the situation as a looming dual crisis unless current restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment are lifted.

According to the report, the departure of already trained female professionals, combined with the systematic exclusion of the next generation of girls from secondary and higher education, would prevent the replacement of those who leave the workforce.

UNICEF said the country could lose up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by the end of the decade.

Since the Afghan government banned girls from secondary education in September 2021, the UN agency said, more than one million girls have been deprived of their right to continue learning.

It said the ban remains in place until 2030, and over two million girls will have been denied education beyond primary school.

Girls in Afghanistan, it said, are currently barred from attending classes above Grade six, while women are prohibited from attending universities until further notice.

UNICEF urged the Afghan government to immediately lift the ban on secondary education for girls and called on the international community to remain steadfast in its support for Afghan girls’ fundamental right to education.  

(Xinhua/NAN)