New Delhi: Rahella Alizada is trapped. She has no family to return to in Kabul, and her time in India is becoming increasingly untenable. She has run out of money; her friends have been paying her rent. The 28-year-old, living in Gurugram, wants to become a physiotherapist but has not been able to attend a single class this year. She can no longer afford the fees. And the well of kindness from friends and strangers is slowly drying up too.
Alizada is one of 13,000 Afghan students currently studying in India. A majority of them are struggling — emotionally, mentally, and financially. From getting visa to finding a place to rent to continuing with their education, every step seems like an insurmountable hurdle.
For young graduates seeking jobs, India is proving to be a sparse hunting ground. The few who have applied say that firms are asking for a certificate stating that they have no criminal background.
Overwhelming despair, dejection, and depression have become par for the course for these Afghan students. Ever since August 2021, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Alizada’s life has been marked by one devastating interruption after another. Her father lost his life in Kabul. Her mother and younger siblings are missing; she says that they have been abducted by the Taliban.
Alizada is now in her second year of physiotherapy at G.D. Goenka University in Gurugram, but her dream of becoming a trained healthcare professional is slowly eroding. It was her father who supported her dream to study in India, but now she can’t fund her education anymore. Of the Rs 1.2 lakh course fee, she still has to pay Rs 80,000.
“My dream was to become a professional therapist and support my family. I don’t have a family to talk to, and I try to speak with other Afghan students when I am lonely. Eid was grim for me this year,” she says.
While her classmates and friends have been trying to fund her education and help her stay in India, there is only so much they can do. “Everything here is so expensive. Everyone has been very kind to me, and I am happy that I am safe in India. But I don’t know what I am going to do,” Alizada says.
With the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) refusing scholarships to Afghan students this year, the latter will have to rely on personal funds to continue studying in India. For the last 17 years, the ICCR had been offering about 1,000 scholarships every year. In 2021-2022, the ICCR offered scholarships to 650 Afghan students.
Also read: Gave safe passage to India to leave, says Taliban foreign ministry spokesman, ‘welcome return’
Uncertainty is only constant
The thick royal blue fabric on the floor of their two-bedroom flat in Indra Vihar, New Delhi, is a poor excuse for an Afghan carpet, but it reminds Izhar-ul-Haq Safi and his two flatmates of home. Safi is from the Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan and a second-year Business Economics student at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce.
Uncertainty is the only constant in 26-year-old Safi’s life. The Delhi University student’s visa expired six months ago, but he has yet to get an extension, though not for the lack of trying. “When my visa was about to expire, I wrote to the Indian embassy and my college. They were supposed to give the embassy a letter stating that I am their student. But the college did not do that,” he said.
The entire process has cost him Rs 12,000 till now. “And my visa has still not been extended,” says Safi.
In the initial tumultuous and violent months of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, India shut down its diplomatic facilities while suspending air travel and bank payments. The Narendra Modi government is yet to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government in Afghanistan. While the government did announce initiatives to restart the Indian embassy in Kabul, only a ‘technical team’ of officials was sent there in June.
Students stuck in Afghanistan need a letter of admission or a bonafide certificate for their visas to be processed. But red-tapism and slow paperwork are proving to be additional hurdles. “I am trying to provide as many letters as possible. So far, we have been able to help the undergraduate students, but the graduate and doctoral students are still waiting,” says Professor Amarjiva Lochan, deputy dean of International Relations at Delhi University and incharge of foreign student admissions
Although not particularly large, the community of Afghan students is close-knit, the ties of friendship strengthened by shared tragedies back home and experiences in India. They usually live together near their colleges. Those in other cities rely on ‘friends of friends’ whenever they travel to other cities. “We don’t have a formal network connecting us all, but we manage to find other Afghan friends. Whenever Afghan students from Mumbai come to Delhi, we host them. This is how we have made friends,” says Safi.
These friendships tide them through times of uncertainty. But they don’t guarantee jobs or even internships.
Also read: Why Taliban wants India in Kabul and New Delhi is upscaling mission
A bleak job market
While some students like Alizada are worried about not being able to complete their education, others spend their time looking for jobs, but the pickings are slim. Employment opportunities for Afghan students in India are so grim that most used to return home — but that’s no longer an option under the Taliban.
“Now we are looking for other countries that are ready to give us jobs. I know of so many seniors who graduated last year but are now jobless in India. They cannot support their families in Afghanistan or even support themselves properly,” says 23-year-old Rahmatullah Azim, who is studying management at DU.
Azim has tapped into the demand for online tutors. He teaches basic mathematics and English to students in Kabul. His flatmates rely on their relatives in Turkey and Iran for financial aid.
Many students also express unhappiness with the lack of support from their colleges. “The university has not done anything to help me with my fees, internship, or even integration. As a foreign student, I was hoping the university would take some initiative to help me,” says Habibullah Mohammadi, a 27-year-old MBA student at Chandigarh University.
He was one of the fortunate few to get a two-month long internship in Noida at Iqvia, but struggled to get a place to rent. “I faced a lot of discrimination and suspicion from house owners because I held an Afghani passport. Finally, my company had to step in to help me find a house.”
Mohammadi has come to terms with the reality — he may never find a job in India. “First of all, I have an education visa, so my employer will have to help me get a work permit. This means I will prove to be an expensive hire. Why would companies want to hire me when they have plenty of locals? I feel like my chances of being able to express myself in the corporate world in India are limited because of my nationality,” he says.
Also read: Nameless airport, IS attack, Delhi paan, vanilla ice cream — Kabul, a year after Taliban return
Internet data or food
There are students who enrolled for the 2021-22 academic year but are still in Afghanistan. There are no means of transportation available. While online classes have become the norm, many say that internet access is a luxury, with prices having increased fourfold. “Attending a full-day class needs a lot of data, but with limited means of income, buying a data pack every day is just not possible. The choice is between buying food or data packages,” says a student in Kabul who wishes to remain anonymous.
With slow internet speeds and 2G connections, they miss out on lectures as sessions often freeze midway.
The lack of funding has made the situation worse. The few students who have managed to get scholarships from Indian universities are also struggling. “We were supposed to get a stipend from the university, but no money has been sent to us. We are using our fast-depleting personal resources to continue our education. This year, we have been told to appear for a physical examination. How is that possible when there are no flights?” asks a student living in a village near Kabul.
At DU, Professor Lochan says that the university has been trying to help the current batch of students. “I am not sure how many of them will be able to make it. It also saddens me that with the restrictions imposed by the Taliban, female students will not be able to make it,” he said.
He, too, admitted that scholarships are drying up and that more and more Afghan students may have to rely on personal funds.
No more Afghan students?
All these factors — high fees, lack of funds and no job opportunities — are already forcing students in Afghanistan to rethink India as an education destination. Universities in Delhi have not received a lot of admission enquiries from Afghanistan for the 2022-23 academic year.
Usually, foreign students reach out to the administration months before the formal admission process starts. Universities also organise counselling sessions. That hasn’t happened yet for Afghan students.
“We will be able to provide more information on the number of students coming from Afghanistan once they apply for admissions. The process is yet to start,” said a professor at South Asian University in Delhi, a popular institute among Afghan students.
ThePrint also reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs over email and is yet to get a response.
For Alizada, a house without her family is not home. She says her life will be in jeopardy if she returns to Afghanistan. “Every day, I am applying for new scholarships and trying to find ways to fund my education. I have no other option but to finish this degree and get a job. And I will do everything in my power to achieve that,” she says.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)