AKIPRESS.COM - Just one in three girls are currently attending school in Afghanistan, marking the biggest drop in the number of school attendees since the Taliban were removed from power 16 years ago, according to a report by UNICEF.
Some 3.7 million children between the ages of seven and 17, or 44 percent, are out of school, with girls accounting for 2.7 million of that figure, 60 percent, Al Jazeera reported.
"The ongoing conflict and worsening security situation across the country, combined with deeply ingrained poverty and discrimination against girls, have pushed the rate of out-of-school children up for the first time since 2002 levels," UNICEF's Afghanistan country study said in a statement.
The spread of violence had forced many schools to close, undermining fragile gains in education for girls in a country where millions have never set foot in a classroom.
The report added that up to 85 percent of girls were not going to school in some of the worst-affected provinces, such as Kandahar, Helmand, Wardak, Paktika, Zabul and Uruzgan.