The International Day of Education in 2023 to be dedicated to Afghan Girls and Women by UNESCO

The UN Secretary-General, the UN General Assembly President, and the Director-General of UNESCO will all be present at an event commemorating the International Day of Education on January 24 at the UN in New York. The first panel discussion will focus on women's and girls' education in Afghanistan.

Currently, 2.5 million Afghan girls and young women who are of school age are not in school (80%), and 1.2 million of them were denied admission to secondary schools and universities as a result of the de facto authorities' decision. Since August 2021, UNESCO has modified its interventions to help maintain education in difficult situations.

Over 20 million Afghans were reached by a UNESCO advocacy campaign to raise public awareness of the right to education for children and adults, particularly teenage girls and women. In addition, UNESCO has collaborated with local NGOs to launch a community-based literacy campaign that targeted 25,000 children and adults in rural regions, primarily women and girls in adolescence over the age of 15.

UNESCO is also aiming to offer distance education through Afghan media channels, particularly radio stations, in order to reach as many girls and women as possible. More over two thirds of the population can access radio, which has the benefit of being directly accessible in households.

With the help of numerous sponsors, UNESCO is assisting them in the creation of content of public interest that is sensitive to conflicts, humanitarian, health-related, educational, and aims to reach at least six million Afghans, with a concentration on women and girls. This includes direct funding for a station run by women in 2023, which will transmit over 200 hours of educational programming each month specifically for girls and women to at least eight provinces across the nation.

Every day without education slows down advancements since 2001.

However, nothing can take the place of the classroom, which serves as a hub for social interaction, teaches how to coexist, and engages both students and teachers in the teaching process.

As a result, UNESCO and its Member States will keep advocating for the right of Afghan women and girls to education to be at the top of the world agenda.

The actions made by Afghanistan's de facto government pose a threat to reverse the country's 20-year progress in terms of growth. With the assistance of the international community, particularly UNESCO, Afghanistan saw a tenfold rise in enrollment at all educational levels from about 1 million students to almost 10 million between 2001 and 2021.

Girls enrolled in primary education climbed from nearly none to 2.5 million during this time. Additionally, the number of women enrolled in higher education in Afghanistan increased about 20 times, from 5,000 students to over 100,000. From 17% of women being able to read and write in 2001 to over 30% for all age categories, the literacy rate for women has almost doubled.