Scores of former female Afghan teachers are being forced to search for any kind of work they can to scrape a living for their families after the Taliban ordered the indefinite closure of girls’ secondary schools across the country.
The situation has led to some, like Ghouti Firdous, a former teacher, resorting to begging on the streets after being unable to find work.
Ghouti, from Kandahar province, was forced to beg to raise enough money to afford food for her family and treatment for her husband who suffers from ill health. To begin with, she tried to sell pens on the street, but when it became clear no one was buying them, she moved on to begging.
Tip of the iceberg
Qari Zinet Khan, another Kandahar resident, said to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister edition: “The situation has been appalling for many female teachers since the Taliban closed the schools and stopped [girls’] education.”
She points out that the women who have been forced to switch from teaching to other jobs are incredibly brave – they have had to break social boundaries in order even to go to the markets to secure a livelihood.
“Scores of former female Afghan teachers are being forced to search for any kind of work they can to scrape a living for their families after the Taliban ordered the indefinite closure of girls’ secondary schools”
However, she stresses that they represent the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands more in extremely precarious circumstances, he says, but who have not sought work in markets or on the streets as vendors, mainly due to Afghan social customs which don’t allow women to work amongst men.
Afghan society frowns on women working in many different jobs she explains. Moreover, many families won’t let the women go to the marketplace to work, no matter how impoverished they are, and however few other options they have.
Child labour rising due to female work ban
Qari explains that female teachers have had to resort to myriad ways to scrape a living.
Among them is Sahar Mujib. She started sending out her two small sons into the streets of Jalalabad to collect rubbish to sell; like cardboard boxes and plastic bottles. Before Ramadan, Sahar had started boiling eggs at home, and sending her sons out to sell them in the local market.
However during the month of fasting that was no longer possible, so the family resorted to rubbish collecting.
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“There are no words to describe my situation,” says Sahar.
“My husband used to work in a restaurant in Jalalabad, and I was a teacher in a local school, and our situation was good. But after the Taliban took control […] I was banned from working. My husband decided to leave Afghanistan to try to reach Europe.
He paid what money we had to the smuggler, but then he was arrested by the Iranian police on the border and was badly beaten. Now, he has severe back pain and is unable to work as before – he only works when he can find an easy job. I have been forced to rely on my two little boys to secure us a piece of bread.”
She continues: “We have no choice but to pay the debts my husband borrowed. If the schools open [again] and I could return to work, I would be able to sort out my life again.”
Community activist Radia Muhib relates the story of a teacher called Zeinab who lives in Kambani district on the outskirts of Kabul. Zeinab prepares Bolani (a type of Afghan bread stuffed with potatoes and vegetables and fried), and sells it at the market wearing a burka so no one can see her face.
“The Taliban government didn’t consider all the social repercussions that would stem from their decision to shut the schools, nor the psychological impact on both teachers and students”
She works from 11 am and returns home just before sunset, and only makes between 200-250 Afghanis ($2.33-$2.91) with which to provide for her children. Her husband died five years ago after suffering a heart attack. Her former job as a private school teacher enabled her to support her family. However, the Taliban’s decision to close the schools left her jobless, forcing her into her current situation.
The societal domino effect of school closures
“The Taliban government didn’t consider all the social repercussions that would stem from their decision to shut the schools, nor the psychological impact on both teachers and students,” says Radia. She calls on the government to reopen girls’ schools as soon as possible, “for the country to exit this impasse, and to give respite to the section of the population being oppressed mentally, socially, and in terms of their basic living conditions.”
Until a few years ago, Hadia Ahmadi’s (56) life was good. She was headmistress of the famous Habibia High School in Afghanistan, earning a decent salary which provided for the needs of her family. However, the entry of the Taliban into government in August 2021 changed everything, as it did for most female teachers in Afghanistan. After losing her post, she tried to find solutions to her growing financial crisis, but to no avail, until she was forced to begin work as a shoe shiner.
