At least 3.7 million children in Afghanistan aged seven-to-17 don't go to school.
An 120-page UNICEF study published on Sunday says of the 3.7 million children, 2.2 million are girls.
In addition, more than 300,000 students are at risk of dropping out of school.
The volatile southern provinces of Kandahar, Paktia, Helmand, Urozgan or eastern Nangarhar have the highest concentration of out-of-school children.
The war with the Afghan Taliban has been worsening especially since the end of the NATO combat mission in December 2014.
"The proximity of front lines has a strong impact on school closure as well as school attendance and enrolment, especially for girls.
"It is difficult to hire qualified staff in war-torn areas and in AOG-controlled areas", the study said, using the term AOG (Armed Opposition Group) for the Taliban and the Islamic State extremist organisation.
The Taliban control at least 14.5 per cent of the country, with another 30 per cent embattled, according to military sources.
The report comes only a week after Taliban in a retaliatory act closed 27 schools in northern Takhar province, depriving over 11,000 students education after the militants' chief of education was arrested in the province.
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