Qatar hosted and participated in talks on the future of education in Afghanistan and the challenges the country is facing.

Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater and the CEO of Education Above All Foundation Fahad Al Sulaiti represented Qatar.

A delegation from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) Ministry of Education headed by Education Minister Mawlawi Sayyid Habeeb, a delegation of the UNICEF organization headed by UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia George Laria, and the Chief of Strategic Partnerships at Education Cannot Wait Organization Nasser Fakih also participated in the talks.

During the talks, the participants discussed the economic challenges, poor infrastructure, the limited human resources and qualifications in Afghanistan, in addition to ensuring equal access to education for all, especially girls, Qatar’s The Peninsula reported.

The participants also agreed on the need to ensure the right to education for all, develop a common vision that deals with challenges, and provide high-quality education opportunities for all Afghan students in all regions.

Richard Bennett, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and other United Nations experts, said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has no “justification to deny the right to education, on any grounds, including religion or tradition” to girls in the country.

In a statement issued on Monday, the UN said that schools should “be reopening to girls across Afghanistan” when the new school year starts on Wednesday.

“Instead, it appears that for the second successive school year teenage girls will be banned from resuming their studies – making Afghanistan the only country in the world that forbids girls and young women from attending secondary school and places of higher education.”

According to the statement, being a state party to United Nations human rights treaties, “Afghanistan is obliged to respect, protect and fulfil the right to education without discrimination on the basis of gender or any other ground, irrespective of the authority in power.”

The UN noted that the IEA denied women and girls their right to education during their initial rule in the country between 1996 and 2001 and after seizing power for a second time in 2021, teenage girls were again denied their right to education.

“Both times, the ban on girls’ education was introduced as a temporary measure. However, during the first period the ban was not lifted and unless the Taliban fulfills its promises to reopen secondary schools and universities immediately, it must be concluded that they have no intention of doing so,” read the statement.

They also said that “even if the ban is reversed, we are concerned about the quality of education that will be provided for girls as well as boys. Disturbing reports from boys’ secondary schools highlight the replacement of qualified professional teachers with religious teachers, with significant changes in school curricula, and a limited provision of school subjects.”

They called for the IEA to immediately reopen all secondary schools and places of higher education to girls and young women.

According to the annual World Happiness Report, Afghanistan (ranked 137) and Lebanon (ranked 136) are the two unhappiest countries.

The report includes six key factors to help explain variation in happiness levels, namely social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.

According to the survey, Finland remained in the top position for the sixth year, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and the Netherlands. In contrast, Afghanistan and Lebanon remained the unhappiest countries, preceded by Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, and Congo.