As thousands of students sit for the annual exam in Kabul, UNICEF warns that continued restrictions on girls’ education are eroding the country’s future workforce and putting universities at risk.
Afghanistan’s annual university entrance examination began in Kabul on Thursday, with girls once again barred from participating under Taliban restrictions that have excluded them from higher education for a fourth consecutive year.
The Taliban-run National Examination Authority said the third phase of the 1405 university entrance exam, known as the Kankor, started in Kabul and will continue on Thursday at Kabul University.
The authority said nearly 120,000 candidates are expected to take the exam nationwide this year, with more than 111,000 projected to gain admission to higher and semi-higher education institutions.
Additional examinations for religious schools, evening programs and graduates of 14th-grade vocational institutes are scheduled for June 12 in Kabul.
The exams are taking place as girls remain barred from secondary schools and universities. The Taliban prohibited girls from attending secondary school shortly after returning to power in 2021 and suspended university education for women in December 2022.
As a result, this year’s Kankor is being held without female candidates for a fourth consecutive year. Girls last sat for the nationwide university entrance exam in 2022, before the university ban took effect.
The exclusion has drawn continued criticism from the United Nations and international rights groups, which warn that the restrictions are causing long-term damage to Afghanistan’s education system and economy.
UNICEF said on Wednesday that continued limits on girls’ education and women’s participation in the labor market threaten the country’s human capital and could leave Afghanistan facing severe shortages of skilled professionals in the years ahead, particularly in the education and health sectors.
In a recent assessment, UNICEF found that 40 of Afghanistan’s 129 universities are at risk of closure because of declining revenue and falling enrollment, especially among women.
“The study shows that a significant number of Afghanistan’s universities — 40 out of 129 — are at risk of closing due to reduced income and declining numbers of students and teachers, particularly women,” UNICEF said.
The agency has also warned that more than one million girls have already been deprived of education since the Taliban imposed restrictions on female schooling. An estimated 250,000 additional girls reach school age each year but remain unable to continue their education.
If the restrictions remain in place, UNICEF projects that more than two million girls could be denied access to education by 2030.
Human rights advocates say the continued exclusion of girls from schools, universities and professional training programs risks creating lasting social and economic consequences for Afghanistan, where women have been largely excluded from public life since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
