Three years ago, I started working as a teacher in religious and social sciences, experiencing many challenges in this mission.
Under the Republican regime, many services were provided in the education sector, but these services were not enough for an effective and robust teaching system and were limited only to the central areas of Kabul and some provinces. Where the Taliban ruled, there were no schools at all, and if there were, only boys were allowed to go to school and girls were deprived.
The problems of teachers who taught in public schools experienced technical and financial problems and challenges.
Technical Lack of capacity building programs, unfamiliarity with effective teaching methods, lack of access to teaching technology, even teachers who were around Kabul and around the provinces did not have transport and went to school on foot.
Private school teachers had the facilities to some extent because students were paying money, so the school administration was obliged to address the problems.
Financial problems The issue of salaries was one of the major challenges for teachers. The amount of salaries they were paid for was not enough for them to meet their financial commitments. Even the small amount of salaries were not paid on time, sometimes three months later.
Teachers at private schools were also suffering from financial problems, even with the low salary, they were doing more work, which was against the country’s labour laws.
Security: Insecurity is one of the phenomena that paralyzes education, and security problems around the provinces seemed to be greater, especially for women and girls.
Taliban Regime (Islamic Emirate)
When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, all teaching centres were closed, but after a while they only opened boys’ schools and girls were not even allowed to leave the house. Closing girls’ schools caused a large proportion of female teachers to become unemployed.
A while later, the Taliban only allowed girls to go to school up to the 7th grade to go to school. They are not allowed to study until 12th grade.
Problems in the rule of the Taliban:
There was a general fear that no one has the courage to raise their voices for their rights, and teachers who have started teaching again but have no salaries have suffered financial problems. Teachers are not free to work, as every method the Taliban gives them must be implemented.
Several women raised their voices and reacted to the Taliban’s injustice but were suppressed by the Taliban’s threats, including with death.
The Taliban have no interest in reopening girls’ schools, which is a major challenge not only for Afghanistan but for the whole world as the level of illiteracy rises, it wlll have its impact on the region.
According to my latest information about the situation of Afghan girls’ schools, a number of private schools in Kabul have established an online teaching system for girls in the high school sector, but girls who have money use the system, which does not eliminate problems because a large number of girls and teachers are at home and cannot go out and cannot afford to pay for online education.