In 2020, there were over 16,000 schools in the country and roughly 9.5 million students. Of this, about 60% were males and 40% females. This was an increase from 900,000 exclusively male students in 2001. Over 174,000 students were enrolled in different universities around the country. About 21% of these were females. However, former Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak had stated in 2013 that the construction of 8,000 schools was still required for the remaining children who were deprived of formal learning.