Washington D.C., March 31, 2022 - The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) today affirmed its commitment to working with partners to meet education needs in Afghanistan.

In a message delivered at the High-level Pledging Event on Supporting the Humanitarian Response in Afghanistan today, acting GPE CEO Charles North said: “GPE is deeply concerned for the future of millions of Afghan children whose access to education has been cut off due to conflict, disasters, COVID-19 and economic decline.”

Up to US $300 million in GPE funds are available to support education for all children in Afghanistan in the next three years. GPE stands ready to support priority activities within the country’s Humanitarian Response Plan and the recently approved Afghanistan Education Sector Transitional Framework.

“We look forward to working with Education Development Partners to protect past gains and boost hope and opportunity for millions of Afghan girls and boys,” said North.

North also expressed grave concern at last week’s announcement by the Taliban that secondary school girls would not be allowed to start their academic year. “This decision puts millions of girls at risk of never gaining the skills they need and deserve to thrive and realize their potential,” he said. “Saving the education system from collapse and safeguarding the right to education for all Afghan children – particularly girls – must be a priority for all partners, or we risk seeing a lost generation.”

Since 2012, GPE has allocated over US $207 million in grants to Afghanistan. In 2020, GPE supported the Afghanistan Humanitarian Response plan with a $20 million accelerated funding grant to provide education opportunities to 150,000 emergency-affected out-of-school boys and girls through community-based learning centers.

Recently, GPE approved an additional $2 million to ensure that those students are able to finalize their school year despite the disruptions they experienced because of COVID-19 and recent conflict.