Alarm As Taliban ‘Deliberately Deprives’ 1.4m Girls Of Schooling, Pushes Future Of Entire Generation Of Women Into ‘Jeopardy’

<h4>Alarm As Taliban<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that as Afghanistan’s rulers mark three years in power&comma; the future of an entire generation of girls is &OpenCurlyQuote;in jeopardy’&comma; says United Nations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;UNESCO is alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate&comma; which could lead to a rise in child labour and early marriage&comma;” it said in a statement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Afghanistan’s Taliban government has &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;deliberately deprived” at least 1&period;4 million girls of their right to an education during its three years in power&comma; according to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">United Nations<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>About 300&comma;000 more girls are missing out on school since UNESCO last carried out a count in April 2023&comma; it said recently and warned that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Taking into account the number of girls not going to school before the Taliban came to power in August 2021&comma; the UN’s educational and cultural agency said 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls – a total of 2&period;5 million – are now being denied their right to an education&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Afghanistan is the only country in the world to stop girls and women attending secondary schools and universities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since the Taliban came to power&comma; it has barred education for girls above sixth grade&comma; arguing that it does not comply with its interpretation of Islam – although no other Muslim country prohibits <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">girls<&sol;a> from being educated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Taliban administration&comma; which is not recognised by any other country&comma; has imposed restrictions on women that the UN has described as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;gender apartheid”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The number of primary pupils has also fallen&period; Afghanistan had 5&period;7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022&comma; compared with 6&period;8 million in 2019&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">UNESCO<&sol;a> said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It blamed the drop on the authorities’ decision to ban female teachers from teaching boys&comma; adding that parents also lacked incentives to send children to school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Enrollment in higher education in equally concerning&comma; it said&comma; adding that the number of university students had decreased by 53 percent since 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As a result&comma; the country will rapidly face a shortage of graduates trained for the most highly-skilled jobs&comma; which will only exacerbate development problems&comma;” according to UNESCO&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<em>Source&colon; Al Jazeera<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;