UNITED NATIONS, Dec 29 (AFP) - Afghanistan's school system is in a "virtual state of collapse" after 20 years of war, with the situation affecting girls more seriously than boys, the UN Children's Fund said Tuesday. In a statement issued here UNICEF said that almost nine out of ten girls and two in three boys were not enrolled at school, while the adult literacy rate was 47 percent for men and only 15 percent for women.

"There has always been a wide gender gap in education in Afghanistan," said UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy. "But this has been further exacerbated and institutionalised as a result of edicts issued by the Taliban authorities banning girls from attending formal schools and female teachers from working," she said.

The Taliban, which now control more than 90 percent of Afghan territory, have enforced strict Moslem laws since taking power. UNICEF has stopped providing educational materials and teacher training to schools in Taliban-held areas, in line with a non-discrimination policy, although the UN agency does continue to support informal community-based education initiatives for both boys and girls in those areas.

Bellamy noted that despite the Taliban signing a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations in May 1998 which promised that "men and women shall have the right to education, "these words have yet to be put into practice."

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