Ban on education in Afghanistan puts psychological, financial pressure on female teachers

Afghan female teachers’ career was abruptly halted when the Taliban banned girls’ education nearly three years ago, forcing them out of their classrooms.

When secondary schools for girls were suspended in September 2021, about a month after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, approximately 1.1 million girls lost access to formal education, and numerous female teachers lost their jobs.

Female teachers from Kabul and other provinces described the sudden and profound impact of this policy on their mental health, leading to severe stress and depression from losing their job and profession, Arab News said.

According to an official from the Afghan Ministry of Education, female teachers from secondary and high schools were reassigned to elementary schools due to a shortage of teachers there. Some were assigned to mixed schools to teach in girls’ shifts, while others remained at home.

A year after the Taliban’s takeover, 14,000 government jobs held by women, mostly teaching positions, were eliminated, as reported by the US government’s oversight authority on Afghanistan’s reconstruction.

The limited work opportunities for women under the Taliban regime have left them with little hope for improvement, relying only on the possibility of a positive change in the future.