UNESCO warns that 24 lakh Afghan girls remain out of school, risking decades of lost potential. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls and women are formally barred from education beyond the primary level, according to UNESCO. The UN agency estimates that 24 lakh (2.4 million) girls are currently excluded from classrooms because of restrictions introduced after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. While girls' access to schooling was severely restricted in 2001, nearly one million girls were enrolled in secondary education by 2021, the agency said. Nearly 70,000 learners have benefited from these programmes so far, with women accounting for 73 per cent of participants, UNESCO said.