UN Warns Growing Child Population Is Straining Afghanistan’s Education System

DID Press: United Nations has warned that Afghanistan’s education system is facing mounting pressure from a growing population of children and adolescents, the return of migrants and insufficient investment, increasing the need to expand educational services across the country.

According to a UN report, the number of children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 in Afghanistan rose from 10.4 million in 2019 to 11.5 million in 2024.The population increase, combined with successive crises, inadequate investment and large-scale migrant returns, has created serious challenges for the country’s schools and teachers.

Meanwhile, more than one million Afghans, including 245,000 children, have returned from neighbouring countries this year, further increasing pressure on the education system.The UN also identified the exclusion of more than 2.6 million girls from education beyond Grade 6 as another major challenge facing Afghanistan’s education sector.