Afghanistan, the world’s fifteenth least developed country, continues to experience setbacks in education even after the Taliban fell from power in 2001. Over half of schools have failing infrastructure, half of teachers did not complete secondary school, textbooks are minimally available and in 2012 and 500 schools closed due to militant violence. Yet, those who are the most deeply affected by the lack of education in Afghanistan are girls.
For the five years they held control over Afghanistan, the Taliban prohibited girls from going to school and forbade female instructors from teaching. Since girls could not receive an education in Afghanistan at the time, some were taught by parents and other relatives or attended underground schools.
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However, there are several factors that still hinder girls’ educational participation, the most prevalent of which include poverty, child marriage and insecurity.
According to a 2013 study conducted by Oxfam, participants named poverty as the main barrier to girls’ education in Afghanistan. This is especially true for families in rural regions, where parents consider their children as fundamental to the success of their farms. For those who live in urban environments, girls often take on fulltime jobs as weavers or seamstresses instead of going to school. In addition, many view education as too costly, as schools do not provide uniforms, books and supplies to their students.
The second-most factor that prevents girls’ access to education is child marriage. To relieve their families of economic pressure, girls are married off in exchange for a bride price. In a majority of cases, girls do not continue to learn after their marriage. A headmaster at a high school in Herat explained, “since people are poor and dowries are very high, girls are forced to get married when they are young. The general perception is that it is enough for girls to only learn how to read and write and more than that is really