Student Union
- By Zohra Moradi
Pandemic Halts Schooling for Afghan Students
Students in Afghanistan have lacked access to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools have remained closed and the virus has not been controlled.
"The real tragedy is that over 3,000 students in Kabul who come from poor families simply do not have the ability to pursue online education during the pandemic when schools are closed," said Aziz Royesh, a teacher and founder of the Marefat High School in Kabul.
"They don't have the internet or mobiles. And even if they did, Kabul has electricity for only a few hours a day," he explained.
Royesh is one of the top 10 finalists worldwide, of 5,000 nominees, for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize of the Varkey Foundation in London. He was able to attend school until age 10, when he fled to Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Schools in Afghanistan shut down in March 2020, when the COVID-19 virus sparked a pandemic, leaving 10 million students out of school. Of these, 300,000 were public and private university students.
Not all have internet, electricity
Students in big cities such as Kabul and Herat have better security and a few hours of electricity most days, and more privileged students have access to the internet, although it is often weak and unreliable. But in the countryside, students do not have the same security, power is very limited and the internet is almost nonexistent, they report.
According to Save the Children, this is in addition to the 3.7 million who were not in school prior to COVID-19. Across six Afghan provinces, only 28.6% of children can access distance learning programs through TV; 13.8%, through the radio; and 0.2%, through the internet.
Schools reopened in September 2020 and then closed for the winter break in November. They reopened in March 2021, only to be shut down again for two weeks in May 2021 in 16 of 34 provinces, including Kabul, because of further outbreaks.
Students lack access to the internet. The World Bank estimates that only 14% of Afghans use the internet.
Rona Yousufi, a rising Afghan junior at Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, said when the pandemic started, students were forced to leave campus immediately. She moved back to Kabul to continue her education online.
"I missed the first week of classes until I got Wi-Fi in my home, but the connection was really poor with consistent power outages. I missed most of my classes, and one hour of homework took me up to two to three hours to do because of the poor connection," Yousufi said.
But she said she is one of the luckier ones. She could continue her education online, while many students who attend her university could not because they come from poor families and cannot afford Wi-Fi.
"There are around 150 Afghan students who go to this university, and 60 to 70 of these were able to access Wi-Fi. The rest had to halt their education until they returned to the university," Yousufi said.
"I have a big family. My parents, five sisters and a brother and I live in a small two-bedroom house. I share a room with my six siblings, and I don't have any place to study and take my classes. I get disrupted during my classes by my younger brother and sisters. The lack of electricity is another challenge. I stay up all night waiting for electricity to come back so I can get some work done."
'I will be a year behind'
Mohammad Reza Nazari, a recent high school graduate in Kabul, is struggling to get an education during COVID-19. He was taking English classes at Star Educational Society when the center shut down, putting a stop to his education.
"I was taking a TOFEL class to pass the exam and apply for schools abroad, but unfortunately the limited electricity and poor Wi-Fi connection prevented me from doing online study," he said, referring to the Test for English as a Foreign Language that many U.S. colleges and universities require for acceptance.
"I get really sad and depressed when I remember that I will be a year behind other students my age," he said.
Khodadad Jafari from Daikundi, Afghanistan, is a student at Star Educational Society. He moved to Kabul three years ago to learn English so he could study abroad and find a part-time job to support himself and his family back in his village.
"I came to Kabul with a lot of hope, but I had to return to the village with all my wishes destroyed," Jafari said.
He tried to stay in his village, but his drive to get an education led him back to Kabul.
"I have access with my mobile to some phone data in Kabul that I did not have at home. I learn English by watching YouTube videos and from websites, but I have limited data and resources," Jafari said.
Maryam Darwish is a high school senior in Kabul. Since her school shut down, she has found it hard to study by herself.
"I can study social studies, but I need someone to help me with science and math. I try to spend my day drawing, reading fiction and going over my social studies books," Darwish said. "I want to continue my education online, but I am always worried and sleepless."
"It's hard to overstate the impact that COVID has had on the continuity of education in Afghanistan. So many students lost nearly all of 2020 to school closures, and now schools are closed again for the foreseeable future," said Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan, in Kabul.
"SOLA, as a boarding school, is fortunate in that we've been able to institute health and safety procedures that have allowed us to operate throughout this year without any outbreaks on our campus, but our model is unique in Afghanistan," she said. "COVID is the great thief that has robbed millions, literally millions, of Afghan girls and boys of their education."
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- By VOA News
Police arrest 33 at George Washington University protest encampment
Police in Washington cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment protest at George Washington University early Wednesday, arresting 33 people, authorities said.
Arrests were made for assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GWU President Ellen Granberg's home Tuesday night. Demonstrators carried signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah." Police were called, but no arrests were made then.
Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, is where much of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
GWU officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GWU statement said.
Event organizers said police used pepper spray to contain the crowd of protesters on Wednesday.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested on 50 campuses in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, according to The Associated Press.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if cease-fire talks fail to secure the release of the hostages.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
- By VOA News
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- By VOA News
US is now the most desirable country for international students
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Pro-Palestinian protesters break through barricades to retake MIT encampment
Pro-Palestinian protesters who had been blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday broke through fencing, linked arms and encircled tents that remained there, as Columbia University canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests.
Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing of thousands of people in Gaza.
"Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT's direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense," he said.
Protesters also sat in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue, blocking the street during rush hour in the Boston area.
The demonstrations at Columbia have roiled its campus and officials said Monday that while it won't hold it's main ceremony, students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.
The decision comes as universities around the country wrangle with how to handle commencements for students whose high school graduations were derailed by COVID-19 in 2020. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its Atlanta campus to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.
Columbia's decision to cancel its main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 saves its president, Minouche Shafik, from having to deliver a commencement address in the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest encampment last week. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said it made the decision after discussions with students.
"Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families," officials said.
Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north at Columbia's sports complex, officials said.
Speakers at some of Columbia's still-scheduled graduation ceremonies include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames and Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia's green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.
Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere as universities struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.
The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan's ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday. In Boston on Sunday, some students waved small Palestinian or Israeli flags at Northeastern University's commencement in Fenway Park.
Emory's ceremonies scheduled for May 13 will be held at the GasSouth Arena and Convocation Center in Duluth, almost 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the university's Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.
"Please know that this decision was not taken lightly," Fenves wrote. "It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies — each of which advised against holding commencement events on our campuses."
The 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated protests stemming from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
Hamas on Monday announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its "core demands" and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
"Cease-fires are temporary," said Selina Al-Shihabi, a Georgetown University sophomore who was taking part in a protest at George Washington. "There can be a cease-fire, but the U.S. government will continue to arm the Israeli military. We plan to be here until the university divests or until they drag us out of here."
At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.
The University of California, Los Angeles, moved all classes online for the entire week due to ongoing disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week. The university police force reported 44 arrests but there were no specific details, UCLA spokesperson Eddie North-Hager said in an email to The Associated Press.
Schools are trying various tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to get protestors to take down encampments or move to campus areas where demonstrations would be less intrusive.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post Sunday that it offered protesters "amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges" if they moved.
"Many protesters left the premises of their own accord after being notified by the police that they were trespassing and subject to arrest," the school said. "Those that remained were arrested after multiple warnings to leave, including some of whom we recognized as SAIC students."
A group of faculty and staff members at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for any students who were arrested and suspended during recent protests. UNC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a media advisory that it would deliver a letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty who support the student activists.
Other universities took a different approach.
Harvard University's interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard could face "involuntary leave." That means they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and may not be able to take exams, Garber said.
Columbia University cancels main commencement after protests that roiled campus for weeks
Columbia University is canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests but will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the university announced Monday.
"Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15," Columbia officials said in a statement.
The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue.
