Women | A joint UNESCO-UNICEF report says women lecturers at Afghan universities fell from about 2,600 in 2019 to just over 100 in 2025, as Taliban bans keep women out

ACW | October 23, 2026 — The UN education agency UNESCO and the UN children's agency UNICEF say the number of women lecturers at Afghanistan's universities fell from about 2,600 in 2019 to just over 100 in 2025.

The figures come from the joint report "Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2026", published by UNESCO in October 2026. According to the report, female university enrolment fell from about 119,000 in 2019 to zero from 2024 onwards.

The report says more than 2.6 million girls have been denied secondary education since the Taliban returned to power. Rukhshana reports that UNESCO and UNICEF estimate about 397,000 more girls miss out on education every school year.

UNESCO and UNICEF also say that in 2025 the Taliban ordered public and private universities to remove 679 books and teaching materials and to stop teaching 18 subjects. According to Rukhshana, these include human rights, democracy and gender studies.

Religious schools had about 2.46 million students in 2025, about 716,000 of them girls, the report says. Rukhshana quotes the report as estimating economic losses of about $9.6 billion by 2066 if universities stay closed to women.

The Taliban have not commented on the report.

Background: After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban closed girls' schools above grade six, and in December 2022 they banned women from university. The UN humanitarian office OCHA has already warned that the restrictions could lead to a shortage of 20,000 women teachers.

Why it matters: According to UNESCO and UNICEF, no woman has studied at an Afghan university since 2024, and the number of women lecturers has fallen from about 2,600 to just over 100, effectively ending women's right to higher education in Afghanistan.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Sources: UNESCO — Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2026; Rukhshana Media — UN: about 397,000 girls miss out on education every school year; Amu TV — Afghan male university enrollment down one-third

Photo: Rukhshana Media