Three women wearing black burqas stand in front of a lecture hall at the university in Kabul. (Image archive). Photo: Felipe Dana / AP / dpa
Frankfurt/Main (dpa) – With a university in digital exile, Afghan students around the world are given the opportunity to continue their education and future prospects.
The first concept was the focus of a two-day conference with immigrant representatives of the Afghan education system in Frankfurt am Main from Friday to Saturday.
Anger, despair and fear of the future
Sadchija Bhagam Amin was an advisor to the Afghan Prime Minister on women and youth issues until August. Like many of her compatriots, she is now in exile, escaping Taliban rule, but is in contact with her former students at Kabul University by email. “It is a mixture of anger, despair and fear of the future,” she told dpa. Many young women are desperate.
The radical Islamist Taliban movement returned to power in August. Since then, most girls’ high schools have closed. Thousands of Afghans have left their homeland. “In the beginning, many hoped things would not get so bad that the Taliban would change,” said Mohammad Osman Baburi, the former president of Kabul University. “And they have changed – for the worse.” The situation is reminiscent of the previous rule of the Taliban “but even more disastrous”. Of the 900 university employees, more than 150 have fled abroad.
University “a gesture of hope”
“It is important to develop the long-term prospects for Afghanistan, in which qualified Afghan specialists play a key role,” said Campiz Gwami, President of the World University Service (WUS) in Wiesbaden, who organized the international conference. “This is the only way to build a democratic society that will last in the country.” The university should be “a sign of hope for the people of Afghanistan and in the refugee camps.” WUS has been campaigning for the realization of the human right to education since 1920.
The digital offer targets people in exile who are now unable to continue their studies or academic work in Afghanistan. Cooperation with partner universities in Germany and other countries is planned so that students receive degrees from two universities.
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