Several students are complaining of delays and difficulties in receiving their academic documents and records from private universities whose operations have been halted by the Taliban. They say they are facing numerous problems in obtaining their graduation certificates and other educational documents. Expressing concern, these students add that educational restrictions and deprivations are growing by the day, putting their academic opportunities at risk.
Dariush (pseudonym), a student at one of the private universities, expressed concern about the situation and said that instead of being given opportunities to learn, they face more restrictions and deprivations every day. According to him, in a country that needs science, knowledge, and skilled professionals more than ever, the doors of educational institutions are being closed to young people one after another.
The student said: “What sin have we committed by wanting to study, acquire expertise, and do something for our own future and for our country? Why, instead of being allowed to learn, do we face more restrictions and deprivations every day?”
Dariush added: “The closure of universities does not only mean the suspension of educational institutions’ activities. It leaves hundreds of students stranded and casts uncertainty over the futures of young people who studied with thousands of hopes and dreams. I ask the Taliban: does a country’s path to progress run through restricting education and closing universities? If a university is to be closed, why is no attention paid, before any decision is made, to the fate of the students and to the years of effort and the money they have spent on their studies?”
The student said: “Now we face problems even in obtaining our academic documents and records, and we do not know how we can preserve the efforts of many years and continue our education at other educational institutions.”
Khorshida (pseudonym), a student at one of the private universities who intends to continue her education abroad after receiving a scholarship, said that after several months she has still not managed to receive her academic documents from the university where she studied. During this time, she has gone repeatedly to collect her documents, but each time university officials have given her different answers and excuses.
The student added: “I have a scholarship and want to go abroad to continue my studies. But since the university was closed by the Taliban, I have been left stranded for several months trying to get my academic documents. We have spent years of our time, money, and effort on education. On the one hand, the opportunity for education in the country has been taken from us, and on the other, now that we want to continue our studies abroad while bearing high costs, we cannot even receive our academic documents.”
Khorshida said: “We have gone to the university officials many times to receive our academic documents, but unfortunately, each time we have been met with different excuses, and our documents have still not been handed over.”
Criticizing what she described as the Taliban’s arbitrary policies on education and higher education, the student said: “We students should not become victims of decisions and policies in which we have no role. Now we are paying the cost and consequences of these decisions with our academic future. We ask the university officials not to neglect the future of students any longer. Academic documents are our legal right, not a favor or privilege that the university can grant us whenever it wishes.”
Jawid (pseudonym), another student, shares a similar concern. He said: “With the closure of the university, I now do not know what to do about my academic fate. We studied with thousands of hopes and dreams and spent a great deal of time, money, and effort to build a better future for ourselves. But today we have neither the opportunity to continue our studies at our former university nor the ability to receive our academic documents. I have gone to the university officials several times to get my documents so that I can begin my studies at another university, but unfortunately my documents have still not been handed over to me.”
The student added: “I ask the university officials to at least respect the rights of students and give us our academic documents. We had no role in the closure of the university and should not bear the consequences of this situation.”
Zahra (pseudonym) said: “I studied up to the sixth semester, but after the Taliban banned girls from attending university, I could not complete my education. Now the opportunity to continue my studies abroad has been made available to me, and I intend to go there to continue my education. But now that I need my academic documents, I am facing difficulties in receiving them because of the closure of the university. Despite going to the university several times, I have still not managed to receive my documents.”
This comes as sources told the Hasht-e Subh Daily in late September that the Taliban had shut down Khatam al-Nabiyyin University and told its students not to return to the university and to find another university to continue their studies.
Mohammad Jawad Mohseni, the owner of Khatam al-Nabiyyin Private University, had said that the university’s operating license, after nearly two decades of activity, was revoked under pressure from the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and for “religious and ethnic” reasons.
Officials of Dawat Private University in Kabul also closed the university on September 19 in protest against the appointment of a new leadership board by the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE).
Dawat University had added that the board members were appointed without the consent of the university’s administration and founders, and that, in the view of this educational institution, they have no legitimacy.
The university’s statement said that the Taliban had seized the university and appointed a new leadership board “without presenting any valid religious, legal, or administrative reason” and without the consent of the administration and founders.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
دانشجویان دانشگاههای بستهشده از سوی طالبان؛ محروم از تحصیل و سرگردان در دریافت اسناد تحصیلی
