An estimated 2.4 million Afghan girls remain deprived of secondary education, five years after the Taliban seized power, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said, urging the immediate restoration of their right to education.

UNESCO said the continued exclusion of women and girls from education represents a serious violation of their fundamental rights.

“Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls and women are formally banned from secondary and higher education,” Hoda Jaberian, UNESCO’s program coordinator for education in emergencies, said during a video news conference.

She said five years was far more than a temporary disruption to a child’s education, noting that it represents nearly an entire secondary school cycle.

Jaberian called for the “immediate and unconditional” restoration of girls’ and women’s access to secondary and higher education, stressing that education is a basic human right.

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew after two decades of war. It soon banned girls from secondary schools and later expanded restrictions to higher education, employment and other areas, effectively pushing women and girls out of public life.

Despite repeated appeals from the United Nations, humanitarian organizations, rights groups and several Islamic countries, the Taliban has maintained the restrictions, saying the issue is an internal matter.

UNESCO said the bans have reversed much of Afghanistan’s educational progress over the past two decades. While girls’ access to schooling was extremely limited in 2001, nearly 1 million girls were enrolled in secondary education by 2021.

“Much of that progress now has been completely reversed,” Jaberian said.

UNESCO continues to support education through community-based learning, literacy and skills development programs. The classes are often held in community spaces and facilitators’ homes, with authorities aware of the activities.

The agency said more than 1,000 literacy facilitators are involved, most of whom have received training from UNESCO and its partners.

“While the restriction remains, we cannot abandon Afghan learners,” Jaberian said, adding that UNESCO is working with communities and partners to preserve every possible avenue for learning.