Jaberian said: “UNESCO continues to call for the immediate and unconditional restoration of girls and women’s right to secondary and higher education. Shortly after, it barred girls from secondary schools and later extended the restrictions to higher education, employment and other sectors, effectively excluding women and girls from public life. While access to schooling for girls was severely limited in 2001, by 2021 nearly 1 million girls were enrolled in secondary education. “Afghanistan had made really major progress in expanding girls’ access to education,” Jaberian said. UNESCO has been supporting education in Afghanistan by running community-based education, literacy and skills development programs.