Afghan teachers face mental and financial strain due to Taliban’s ban on girls’ education

• The Taliban’s ban on girls’ education in September 2021 led to a significant loss of jobs for female teachers.
• The policy allowed female teachers to work only in girls’ primary schools, causing stress and depression among teachers.
• Some teachers were assigned to mixed schools, teaching in the girls’ shift, while others stayed at home.

Najiba’s career as an educator halted nearly three years ago when the Taliban imposed a ban on girls’ education, a controversial policy that also drove many Afghan teachers out of the classroom. When the Taliban suspended secondary schools for girls in September 2021, a month after taking control of Afghanistan, it denied about 1.1 million girls’ access to formal education and led to many female teachers losing their jobs. The new policies permitted female teachers to work only in girls’ primary schools.

“We had this fear but didn’t know it would happen so soon. It was the hardest thing to know that I wouldn’t be able to teach anymore,” Najiba, an English teacher in Kabul, told the news.

“The change happened so suddenly and so quickly that it was difficult for me to cope with it. I developed very serious levels of stress and depression as a result of losing my job and my profession.”

For the 37-year-old who used to teach at a local high school, the consequences on her mental health were “irreversible,” affecting not only her but also her family, as she was forced to stay at home most of the time.

“I feel I am becoming illiterate because I don’t study. I miss my students and colleagues every day and every moment. I feel lonely most of the time at home,” she said.

When the policy went into effect, the Afghan Ministry of Education reassigned all female teachers from secondary and high schools to elementary schools “where there was a shortage of teachers,” an official told the news on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to the press.

“In addition, some of them were assigned to mixed schools, where boys and girls study in different shifts, to teach in the girls’ shift. The rest are staying at home,” the official said.

“The ministry plans that only female teachers will teach in girls’ schools and male teachers will be transferred to boys’ schools. This has been successfully implemented in Kabul and other provinces.”

A year after their takeover, the Taliban had eliminated 14,000 government jobs held by women, most of which were teaching positions, according to a report published by SIGAR, the US government’s oversight authority on Afghanistan’s reconstruction.

Despite the increasing uncertainty over the future of education for girls in Afghanistan, Najiba still holds out hope.

“I hope and pray something good happens and girls’ schools reopen so we can go back to where we belong, in the classroom and school. Nothing else will make us happy and help us get back to our normal condition,” she said.

For Khaperai, who used to teach at a secondary school in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern Nangarhar province, the Taliban’s policies are taking a toll on her mental health and financial situation.

The 42-year-old has tried in vain to transfer to a primary school, but no vacancies exist in her area.

“And I couldn’t leave my family. The change in my condition has not only impacted me psychologically but has posed economic challenges as well,” she told Arab News, adding that her husband has also lost his job due to the ongoing economic crisis.

“I was supporting my children’s education with my salary but since the last few months, our salaries have decreased. We only receive 5,000 afghanis ($70) in our accounts now. It’s not sufficient to support myself and my children. I don’t know what I will do.”

With the Taliban restricting women from many workplaces, Khaperai found herself with no other alternative.

“I can’t do any other job. Women have very few work opportunities under the Taliban, making it almost impossible for female heads of the family to support their families,” she said.

“I can only hope for a positive change. I can’t do anything else. No one seems to listen to us or care about us. We are left to the mercy of God.”

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