By Mohammad Ozair Noori
In Afghanistan, the closure of schools and universities to women and girls is rightly condemned as a monumental violation of human rights. But three years into this unprecedented restriction, a new, equally devastating picture is emerging: a catastrophic economic collapse fuelled by the loss of skilled female workers, and a public health crisis that is costing lives.
A recent review by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) reveals that the regime’s policies, which have made Afghanistan the world’s only country to formally ban girls from accessing post-primary education, are not merely moral failures; they are calculated acts of economic self-destruction, carrying financial and human costs that will cripple the nation for generations.
The $9.6 Billion Brain Drain
Since August 2021, the de facto authorities have systematically reversed two decades of progress, barring an estimated 1.5 million girls from secondary school and university. This exclusion, the UNESCO report warns, has triggered an economic blackout.
The core of the problem lies in the deliberate erasure of women from the workforce, a population that once contributed significantly to the economy. The suspension of women’s access to higher education alone is projected to cost Afghanistan’s economy $9.6 billion by 2066, an amount roughly equivalent to two-thirds of the country’s current Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This colossal financial loss is directly linked to the country’s failure to replace skilled female workers as they leave the labour market. The education ban guarantees that the pipeline of educated professionals, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and, crucially, teachers, will soon run dry.
According to the report, the nation faces an imminent shortage of over 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030. This is more than a staffing issue; it means that even the education that remains available to young boys and girls, which is already heavily curtailed and often lacking basic materials, will deteriorate further, creating an undereducated generation unable to sustain a modern economy.
The Burden on Boys: Poverty Drives Child Labour
The economic devastation triggered by freezing international aid and severely restricting female employment has been immediate and acute at the household level. With women pushed out of jobs in the civil service, NGOs, and the private sector, families have lost critical sources of income.
The result is a grim, unintended consequence for the boys still technically allowed to attend school: widespread child labour. In a school census cited by the report, 66% of school informants identified economic reasons as the main cause for boys’ absences from primary school. As family resources dwindle, children are forced out of classrooms and into quarries, markets, and fields to fill the economic void left by their mothers and sisters.
This desperation is compounded by instability in the entire education ecosystem. Even public school teachers who remain employed have reported substantial salary cuts and chronic payment delays, further eroding the quality and motivation of the remaining staff.
A Public Health System on the Brink
Perhaps the most immediately life-threatening consequence of the bans is the near-total collapse of the public health system for women and girls. In Afghanistan, cultural and religious norms dictate that women must receive care from female health professionals. By barring women from universities and specific fields like engineering, agriculture, and journalism, which were deemed “too challenging” for them, the DfA have guaranteed a crisis in healthcare provision.
The situation has only worsened with the ban on women attending private medical institutions in December 2024, closing one of the last remaining pathways for women to train as nurses, midwives, and doctors.
As the report underscores, without female health providers, women are less likely to seek crucial maternal and antenatal care. In a country already struggling with low life expectancy and high maternal mortality rates, cutting the pipeline of female medical staff will inevitably lead to unnecessary suffering and death.
The consequence is a cruel paradox: the rules of gender segregation, enforced to protect women’s modesty, are now actively preventing them from accessing culturally appropriate, and often life-saving, medical treatment. Reports indicate that the already severe shortage of female doctors is being exacerbated daily, leaving many women and girls without any viable option for medical consultation.
The Crushing Social and Mental Toll
Beyond the spreadsheets and mortality rates lies the incalculable human cost. The loss of education is a direct sentence to a confined life, and the report highlights the devastating social and mental health fallout.
For adolescent girls, the abrupt closure of the classroom door has stripped them of their prospects, leading to increasing pressure for early and forced marriages. As one mother interviewed for the report lamented, her daughters “could think about their future as they would become doctors, teachers, or so, but the Islamic Emirate does not allow them to go to school.”
The resulting hopelessness has fuelled a severe mental health crisis. Survey data collected on the ground shows that women are suffering from significantly worsening feelings of anxiety, isolation, and depression. The report shockingly details that suicide and attempts at self-harm are becoming increasingly prevalent, a desperate symptom of a population stripped of dignity and purpose.
An Urgent Call to Action
The UNESCO analysis delivers a stark message: the ban on women’s and girls’ education is no longer just a domestic issue but a central factor driving Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic collapse.
The country, already vulnerable to political instability and climate shocks, cannot afford to sideline half its population. Restoring the right to education for all Afghan women and girls is the single most critical step toward national recovery and stability.
The international community must continue to utilise diplomatic and financial pressure to reverse these prohibitions immediately, while simultaneously strengthening alternative learning pathways, such as community-based and digital education, to prevent further loss.
For Afghanistan, the classroom door remains the only viable path to a future, and every day it stays closed, the bill for this self-inflicted catastrophe rises.
