When Shila Azimi left home to pursue higher studies in India, little did she know how drastically things would change back home in Afghanistan. Many Afghan students set out of the country with the belief that the Indian education system gives them great career prospects back home. But in August 2021, as the Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan, their dreams began to fade. Today, as their courses are nearing completion, students from Afghanistan studying in India are in a fix. Many are looking at pursuing further studies in India.
“I came here for better education and had a plan to go back and start working with a media house, but all of sudden, everything changed. As a media student, now this is becoming more dangerous for me. Before I came to India, one of the journalists from where I used to work was kidnapped and released after two months. In this situation, I don’t even have the courage to go back. For now, I have the opportunity to do my higher studies with the support of the ICCR, but after that what will happen, I don’t know,” said Ms. Azimi, a mass communication student who completed her postgraduation recently from Bangalore University. With no option left to go back to her home country, she started her Ph.D course under the ICCR scholarship in Mangaluru.
Some students said coming to India was actually a “life-saver”. An Afghan student, requesting anonymity for the sake of his family’s safety back home, said, “I had a job there, and I was supposed to go back after my postgraduation and rejoin the same organisation. But now, the situation is not the same. We don’t have any hope that if we go back after our degree, we will get a job. Many of my relatives lost their jobs. In this situation, my parents don’t even want me to go back to Afghanistan. Now, instead of thinking about going back, I am searching for institutions for my higher studies that is safer for us.”
For women students, the situation is all the more difficult. “When I came here, I had lots of hope and dreamt that I can learn new skill sets here and use them to develop my country’s media sector. But all of a sudden, we have gone back by 20 years. For now, I cannot think of going back to my country if the situation is the same. My sister was working with a humanitarian organisation. She lost her job after the Taliban came to power. Even many of my colleagues who work in media organisations lost their jobs, especially women,” said Faizia Ibrahimi, an Afghan student in Bengaluru.
With no hope of getting any job in her country, Ms. Ibrahimi is trying to manage some fully funded scholarships with a stipend for her higher studies, as currently, she is under academic scholarship.
Abdullah (name changed), a University of Mysore student, said, “When I left my country before the Taliban took over, I was eager to become a university professor. But in the current situation, there is no focus on higher education. That is why I am a bit worried. I am trying to get a Ph.D here, as the Indian government also provides some scholarships for us to continue our higher studies. But still, the question is what we will do after this. I may try my hand at business or try to find work in another country.”
Aminullah came to India to know more about business administration as his family has its own business. Now, he is struggling to get another scholarship for higher studies. “This is sad, but we do not have any option to go back to my country at least as long the situation won’t change. After finishing my degree, I may try to go to another country for survival and get a good job because here in India, we don’t have any work opportunities. We have a family business in Afghanistan, but after the Taliban took over, the economic condition is not good,” said the student of Bangalore University.
