Uncertainty clouds the Afghan School

NEW DELHI: Nestled amid a row of houses and commercial buildings in southeast Delhi’s Bhogal stands the only Afghan school in India. Unknown to most outsiders, the neighbourhood school has served as a beacon of hope for the beleaguered Afghan community in Delhi for the past many years.

Supported by the Afghan government and their embassy here, Syed Jamaluddin Afghan School, provided a crucial learning platform to hundreds of children, many of whom are unfamiliar with Indian languages.

The school is named after Jamal al-din al-afghani, an important political activist and Islamic ideologist of the country.

However, with the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, uncertainty clouds the school that was dependent on the Afghan government for financial aid and support.

There are fears that the ripple effects of the ongoing political turmoil in the war-torn country will lead to the closure of the school, thereby depriving Afghan children in India of a good chance at education. A little over 500 children in grades 1 to 12 are currently enrolled at the school.

Yousuf Anwari, a 20-year-old, is among the students of the school. A Class 10 student, Anwari came to India in 2016 along with his mother and sister in the hope of a safe and secure future.

A native of Laghman province in Afghanistan, he had completed his education till grade 10 back home. Life in India, however, came with a fresh set of challenges. Education was put on the back burner, as he directed his energies towards earning a living. Three years ago, he joined the Afghan school with the hope of completing his education—a goal that now hangs in the balance.

“Until the week before, our focus as a community was on education. Since we come from a war-torn country, we believed that education would give us another shot at rebuilding our lives. Everything has changed since the Taliban came back to power. While the school is conducting online classes, the focus has shifted from education to more pressing concerns. Everyone is worried about the safety of our people back home and here. There is dread and uncertainty about the future,” said Anwari.

He said while classes were taking place as before, he was uncertain about his fate or that of the school. “After all these years, I could not complete my education. Our future is getting destroyed again. Neither will we get a degree or a job,” said Anwari.

Akbar Jabarkhil, 18, a Class 10 student, said the school was crucial since many Afghan students struggled to get admission in Indian schools on account of a lack of documents and other age-related criteria. “I had approached the government school in the vicinity for admission but they denied. They said admission cannot be granted to students above the age of 14. After being turned away, I started studying here,” said Jabarkhil, who came to India in 2017 amid threats from the Taliban. His father was a commanding officer in the Afghan army, while his other family members worked for the Afghan government.

Like other students, Jabarkhil is worried about completing his education. “After all these years of studying, our education will be left incomplete if the school shuts operations. Everyone is stressed, we fear that the school might be closed,” he said.

He said the school was established after numerous challenges and provided a sense of belonging to Afghan children, who were uprooted from their country. “It is the only Afghan school in India. Our school is a matter of pride for us. Our principal struggled a lot for the school, and our heart aches thinking about its future,” said Jabarkhil. He said despite the challenges of space and facilities, the teachers kept the running school over the years.

Kohdadad Shahab, 27, a resident of Bhogal, said the school was a much-needed facility for Afghan children. “With the departure of the Afghan government, there is no one to support the school. The Taliban cannot be trusted,” said Kohdadad.

Despite concerns among the students, school teachers and principal said they will continue to teach, regardless of the difficult conditions that the community was going through.

Saniafeda Taj, principal, said the school was open and continuing with online classes. “We are waiting for clarity and will wait till a new government is formed. We have hope. We don’t want to discourage our people and will keep the school open, hoping for the best. We don’t want to close education,” said Taj. She said the school was first set up in 1994 and belonged to an NGO, Women’s Federation for Work. Later in the early 2000s, the school was discontinued by the NGO. Taj restarted the school and classes kicked off once again with cooperation from good Samaritans. “I remember that the rent for the building was Rs 16,000 but the landlord gave it to us for Rs 6000 since all of us wanted education to continue. I sought donations from people to keep the school running. Teachers were also happy to teach for pay as low as Rs 1500 per month. Once we added Class 9, I approached the embassy for rent and salary-support for teachers,” said Taj.

The Afghan government eventually extended support and the school was able to hold classes for students in all grades starting from 1 till 12. The rent of the school building, salaries for teachers, and even books were taken care of by the Afghan government.

“I don’t want to close this school. Education will not be closed, as long as I am around. Even if the Afghan government closes this school, I’ll open it at another place so that my refugee students can learn their mother tongue. Even if the government stops supporting us, I will never give up and make efforts to run the school,” said Taj

The school has not received any money from the Afghan government for the past eight months due to which the salary of teachers as well as the rent for the accommodation is pending. Taj added that the government provided salary at an interval of three months in the past due to bureaucratic and distance-related hurdles, the situation worsened over the past eight months.

“We used to get the money from the embassy in Delhi. Since the Taliban came, everything has stopped. I am worried and so are the teachers, but are waiting and hoping that something good comes out. I am trying my best for my students and teachers,” said Taj. Appreciating the efforts of her teachers, she recognised that they were working amid the trying teams, with no salary support.

“My teachers are also facing so many problems in life. They don’t have money to eat or give rent, yet they continue to teach even amid the pandemic,” she added.

The school has 36 staff members, including 26 teachers. The school has 515 students on its roll at present and has been operating out of its current location in Bhogal for the past four years. Due to the pandemic, classes have shifted online, and are held between 9 am till 5pm. Subjects taught at the school include English, Pashto, Dari, Math, Science, among others.

Hameedullah Haidaryaar, 52, teaches Geography at the school to students in Classes 10 to 12. He joined the school five years ago, a year after he moved to India. Since the fall of the Ashraf Ghani-led government, Haidaryaar has been teaching daily as per his regular routine, even though there is no clarity on the school’s future.

“There is no government activity in Afghanistan right now. Since this is a government school, we are all waiting for some updates on the government back home. Once there is a government, the school will coordinate with them. Only then, we will get to know if the school will continue, or will be closed and if we will get the pending salary,” said Haidaryaar.

He said though times were tough for the community everywhere, Afghans were making efforts to stick around for each other. “If our community can benefit from my teaching, I’ll continue to teach. For the sake of humanity, we should help each other,” he said, adding that the school was the only one for many Afghans, who faced obstacles in securing admission in Indian institutes. Most Afghans cannot afford private education, and not all government schools in India give admission to Afghan children, multiple members of the community said.

BK Sharma, principal of the Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Lajpat Nagar that has 60 Afghan children, said the school facilitated education for children at UNHCR’S request. “Under the RTE, there is a provision for a special training centre (STC). Children without documents can be admitted to the STC according to their age. During a period ranging from 6 months till two years, the centre works towards bridging their learning gap. Once the bridge course is completed, they are brought to the mainstream,” said Sharma. However, since RTE does not extend to children above the age of 14 years, such students are not able to enrol for schooling.

Zubaida Masoodi, 22, who completed Class 12 this year, said she and many others were yet to receive a certificate of school completion.

She said there was no clarity on the status of documents since the chain between the Afghan government and the embassy has been broken completely.

“We have not received certificates that usually serve as evidence of schooling completion. Our teachers have not been paid for the past eight-nine months. The school rent has not been paid for over six months. Everything is in limbo but our teachers continue to teach and they give us hope,” said Masoodi.

Anwari said the closure of the school will be a huge setback for the community. He sought support from the UNHCR and the Indian government for the school.

“It will be great if the Indian government or UNHCR can support our school. It’s heartbreaking to see our dreams of education getting threatened over and over again. We want to have a future too,” said Anwari.