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Kabul: Only 35 per cent of the students in Afghanistan's schools are girls, and while overall enrolment is increasing, the percentage of female students is not, an aid group said on Monday.
A shortage of female teachers, a number of boys-only schools and cultural barriers are factors keeping girls out of school, the group Care International said.
The education of girls in post-Taliban Afghanistan is held as an example of success by Afghan and Western officials. During Taliban rule, which ended after a US-led invasion in 2001, girls were banned from going to school, and only about 1 million boys attended classes.
Citing data from the Education Ministry, Care said 35 per cent of the 5.4 million Afghan children now enrolled in schools are girls. It is unclear what percent of all children attend school, since Afghanistan has not had a census in decades.
Care said more than a third of the country's 9,062 schools are exclusively for boys. It said 28 per cent of Afghan teachers are female, with most working in urban areas.
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