January 24, 2025, marks International Education Day.
This year’s theme for International Education Day is “Artificial intelligence (AI) and education: preserving human agency in a world of automation.”
This occasion provides an opportunity to highlight the role of education in the progress of societies and in overcoming educational barriers, especially in crisis-affected countries such as Afghanistan.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva, stated that it marks International Education Day with deep concern due to the continued deprivation of millions of Afghan girls from their fundamental right to education.
Otunbayeva emphasized that “no country has ever thrived by disempowering and leaving behind half its population.”
She urged Afghanistan’s interim authorities to lift this ban as soon as possible and allow all Afghan girls to return to school.
Since August 2021, Afghanistan’s caretaker government has imposed extensive restrictions on girls’ education, making Afghanistan the only country in the world that has deprived women and girls of access to secondary and higher education.
Coinciding with International Education Day, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for increased investment in safe and climate-resilient education.
UNICEF has stated that in 2024, floods have destroyed or damaged 110 schools in Afghanistan, disrupting the education of thousands of students.
The organization’s report indicates that at least 242 million students in 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024, including heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, floods, and droughts, exacerbating an existing learning crisis.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also emphasized on this day that education is a human right and a shared responsibility.
Referring to the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan, OCHA has stated that this restriction has so far deprived 1.5 million Afghan girls of their fundamental right to education.
While the world is taking steps toward progress in education, Afghanistan continues to face serious challenges in girls’ access to education.