The Taliban could not be immediately reached for comment.
Access to primary education has also fallen since the Taliban took power in Aug. 2021, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, according to UNESCO data.
The U.N. agency warned that authorities have “almost wiped out” two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan. “ The future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy,” it added.
It said Afghanistan had 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019. The enrollment drop was the result of the Taliban decision to bar female teachers from teaching boys, UNESCO said, but could also be explained by a lack of parental incentive to send their children to school in an increasingly tough economic environment.
“UNESCO is alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate, which could lead to a rise in child labor and early marriage,” it said.
The Taliban Wednesday celebrated three years of rule at Bagram Air Base, but there was no mention of the country’s hardships or promises to help the struggling population.
Decades of conflict and instability have left millions of Afghans on the brink of hunger and starvation and unemployment is high.