ADSP Briefing Note – Afghan Children’s Access to Education in Iran and Pakistan
The De facto Authorities (DfA) imposed restrictions on women and girls’ education in 2022, banning secondary schooling for girls throughout Afghanistan and suspending tertiary education for women. The decreased access of girls to secondary and tertiary education will not only impact girls and women but the Afghan economy as a whole. Restrictions on female education, alongside over 20 other bans on women’s rights, are an added reason why Afghan women, often along with their families, have to migrate. According to a private report, written in March 2023, although access to education for girls and women is often not the sole reason for migration, it is and was “a key consideration for many” that have recently migrated to neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. This was particularly the case for families with daughters and sisters in secondary and tertiary years.
Afghans have historically migrated to Iran and Pakistan in the hope of accessing safety. Yet Afghan girls and women migrants, including refugees, face obstacles accessing services in their host country.
This brief concludes with recommendations to expand inclusion within national education systems to undocumented Afghan nationals, and to enhance awareness raising among communities on the value of education as key out of poverty and towards resilience and self-reliance.
The full briefing note can be found here.