Nangarhar -
The Ministry of Higher Education in Afghanistan announced, through its Minister, Mawlawi Abdul Baqi Haqqani - last week - the opening of the doors of public universities in two stages to male and female students, in separate classes for both sexes in all colleges, after they were separate only in Sharia colleges in the previous government. .
The ministry said that the first stage will be in hot areas starting from February 2, and the second stage in cold areas, including the Afghan capital Kabul, starting from 26 of the same month.
The study has already begun in the hot areas, with a large presence of male and female students in their independent classes in some universities, including Nangarhar University, which divided working hours in the morning for male students and in the afternoon for female students.
The reopening of universities came after they were closed for 7 continuous months, starting in July of last year, with the second wave of Corona under the government of Ashraf Ghani, and after the Taliban movement took control of Afghanistan, public universities remained closed, while private universities resumed their work about a month after the formation of the government Taliban.
Students gather in front of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Nangarhar University after opening its doors (Al-Jazeera)
Wide spread of universities
The number of government universities in Afghanistan is 39, including 3 in the Afghan capital, Kabul, two in Kandahar province, and two in Ghazni province, and the rest is distributed to other provinces.
Kabul University (founded in 1932) is the most famous university in Afghanistan, with approximately 25,000 students enrolled in 16 colleges.
Then Nangarhar University, which is the only one that offers a PhD program in Sharia and Law, Kandahar University and Herat University.
The number of students in public universities exceeds 200 thousand students, and about 60 thousand students graduated from them annually in various specializations.
As for the private universities, there are 126 universities, including 70 universities in the capital, Kabul, and some of them have branches in some provinces, the most famous of which are the American University, which was closed with the Taliban’s control of Kabul, the University of Peace, the University of Al-Da`wah, the University of Cardan, and the University of Khatam al-Nabiyin.
Public university students breathed a sigh of relief after opening their doors after a long closure (Al-Jazeera)
Fear of an unknown future
The closure of universities for a short period of time confused the accounts of many Afghan youths, who had programmed their academic career to finish early studies in various degrees.
Among them is Ahmed Salim, a young man in his twenties, who joined the Faculty of Economics at Nangarhar University two years ago, and had hoped to obtain a doctorate in economics before he was 30 years old.
Salim told Al Jazeera Net, "The closure of universities for a long time wasted a part of my life and my dream of completing the university level in 4 years as scheduled, and I wanted to go to an international university abroad to obtain a master's degree and then a doctorate, but the realization of my dream was delayed and the implementation of my plan."
Saleem’s case was not unique, but was repeated with every male and female student at the university level, who could not leave Afghanistan, and could not obtain a scholarship or pay the costs of studying in private universities, although private universities reduced their tuition fees by 50% for new entrants 20% for old students.
As for Waheed Allah - a fourth-year student at Sayed Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani University in the College of Education and Education in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan, he says in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, "I was hoping to complete my studies and graduate on time and then get married. I waited for months without study or work, and finally I decided to marry, and I actually got married, because the wait for the university doors to open has been long.”
Forget what they studied
And the impact of the closure of universities for a long time on the morale and enthusiasm of students.
"My colleagues and I are desperate for the current situation of higher education in our country, and we have forgotten all that we studied because of the long interruption," the student Barwaneh, who is at the Faculty of Agriculture at Sayed Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani University, told Al Jazeera Net.
On her part, Maryam Sherine, who is in the first semester at the Faculty of Economics at the same university - told Al Jazeera Net - "The long-term interruption of studies affected us negatively, because we were late for studies, and our time was in vain, and we forgot what we studied. Our only wish was to open the doors of the university as quickly as possible." ".
However, other students did not stop at the closure of universities, so they started special work in the field of education, as did Hazrat Hakim, a student in the College of Education and Education, who established an education center near his home to teach primary and secondary students English and engineering.
Others used their time in other work such as trading and working on taxis or "Tuk Tuk" in their areas to earn a living, while others left their studies and left the country illegally, either to neighboring countries or to European countries.
Female students returned to study in universities wearing the Islamic headscarf and in separate halls from students (Al-Jazeera)
Negative effects in the future
Muddathir Islamic, a specialist in the field of education and education - to Al Jazeera Net - talks about the negative effects of closing universities, saying, "One of the biggest negative effects of the delay in graduating students in the last year is the inability of universities to receive the new batch of students, as well as the loss of an entire year for these students." Students, and keeping students in their homes without studying negatively affects their psyche, and weakens their academic achievement in their majors.
Hashem Amin, a professor at the University of Education and Education in Kabul, agrees with Islam on many of the negative effects of the interruption of studies, in his speech to Al Jazeera Net, and adds, "The enthusiasm and rush to university study weakens students, and this is one of the biggest bad effects that threaten higher education in the future."
As for Dr. Najib Salih, Professor of Sharia and Law at Nangarhar University, he believes: "One of the negative effects of closing the university doors is creating a state of despair among young people about their educational future, and that is why we saw thousands of young people leaving the country, not only for economic and security problems, but a lot." Some of them left the country because the universities were closed.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Saleh adds, "The length of the university closure period delayed Afghanistan from competing with other countries in various scientific fields."
Why did the universities close for a long time?
The Taliban government justified the closure of universities over the past period by the economic crisis in which the movement began ruling Afghanistan for external reasons, given that education in Afghanistan from primary to university level is completely free, and the new government was not able to operate student housing and provide them with services such as food, electricity and others According to Mawlawi Abdul Baqi Haqqani, Minister of Higher Education, in his interview with the media.
Muddathir Islami agrees with the Afghan Minister of Higher Education, and adds that there is another reason, which is the Taliban movement's keenness on Islamizing universities. The government does not allow mixing between males and females in the classroom, and this separation was not quickly possible;
Because the existing buildings do not meet this purpose, the universities remain closed until the appropriate classrooms are available for the process of gender segregation,” and this has now been achieved by setting separate times for each.