Taliban Policies Cut Afghanistan Male Enrollment to 188,957 as Female University Attendance Hits Zero
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 13
Taliban Policies Cut Afghanistan Male Enrollment to 188,957 as Female University Attendance Hits Zero
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 13
Summary
Male students across Afghan universities say Taliban rules now force beards, traditional dress, public prayers and mandatory religious lectures that displace regular classes and punish noncompliance.
UNESCO data shows the system’s collapse: female higher-education enrollment fell to zero by 2024, while male enrollment dropped from 310,369 in 2019 to 188,957.
More than 20 students in seven provinces described classrooms stripped of debate, with underqualified or ideologically aligned lecturers replacing experienced professors who left, stopped teaching or were sidelined.
That decline is eroding faith in education itself, students said, as degrees seem less tied to jobs and fields such as journalism shrink under Taliban restrictions.
As universities become madrasas, what kind of society is the Taliban engineering for Afghanistan's future?
With global engagement continuing, is the world becoming complicit in the erasure of Afghan women from society?
Afghanistan’s Lost Generation: The Catastrophic Impact of the Taliban’s Ban on Girls’ Education (2021–2024)
Overview
Afghanistan’s education system is in crisis, driven by Taliban policies since August 2021 that have banned women and girls from secondary and higher education. Since December 2022, women have been barred from universities, and most girls over twelve cannot attend school or work. As a result, Afghanistan is now the only country where women are completely excluded from higher education, and no new female professionals have been produced in the past two years. These restrictions have led to a sharp decline in female students and teachers, deepening the country’s educational and societal challenges.