For the fifth consecutive year, a new academic year begins in Afghanistan without the presence of girls above grade six.
As an Afghan woman and a GBV expert, I witness not only the denial of education, but the deepening layers of harm this exclusion creates. When girls are kept out of classrooms, they are pushed closer to early marriage, economic dependency, and cycles of violence that become harder to break.
Education is not just a right—it is protection. It is power. It is possibility.
Behind every closed school gate is a girl whose dreams are being delayed, whose voice is being silenced, and whose future is being decided without her consent.
We cannot normalize this.
The world must continue to listen, to speak out, and to act. Afghan girls deserve to learn. They deserve to grow. They deserve to lead.
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn #EducationIsARight #Afghanistan #GBV #StandWithAfghanWomen
