TALOQAN (Pajhwok): The number of private universities students in northern Takhar province has declined by 80 percent, according universities officials on Sunday.
They said poverty, migration of intellectuals, unemployment, and disappointment among youth were some of the reasons that most people stopped attending universities.
Abdul Maroof Arafi, head of the Sadaat Private University, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “After recent developments the number of students drastically declined, earlier we had 3,500 students, including girls, but now we have 700 students.”
He linked decline in the number of university students with poverty, disappointment among youth for getting jobs after graduation as main reasons behind youth not interested in education.
He said in the past 50 students appeared in the class while now there are 10 students. Some universities had stopped functioning, he added.
He asked government intervention to improve the situation.
Zabihullah Khalid, assistant academic director of Paiman Private Higher Education Institute, said recent changed left negative impact on the education system in the country adding that ban of girls education by the acting government and economic problems were some of the reason due to which youth had lost interest in education.
He said they earlier had 1,000 students while now they had 200 students showing 80 percent decline in the number of students.
University Teacher Safiullah Faez said if private universities are faced with decline half of the Takhar society would be deprived of education because state-run universities were unable to meet the education demand.
He said if private universities are not supported the youth will be deprived of education and this would be a future risk.
Hanafi Parsa, another education expert, expressed concern over the current condition of educational institutions in the country and said the decline of education institutions would have negative impact.
In the past 20 years there was notable progress in the education sector of the country but now it faced a sudden decline. Thousands of students had stopped getting education and thousands of employees lost their jobs.
Earlier, Abdul Salaam Hanafi, the administrative aide of the acting prime minister, said Four percent of the quarterly tax has been waived for universities, madrasas and schools in fiscal year 1402.
Mohammad Karim Nasari, spokesperson of the Private Universities Union, said strategy had been put in place to encourage youth towards education Discussions in this regard had been held with higher education officials of the IEA.
The government has formed a special commission to support private higher education institutions in coordination with the officials of private universities. As a result, four percent of taxes were exempted.
He linked the declining interest of students towards higher education with economic problems and added efforts to ensure sustainability in the higher education system and encourage youth were underway.
He said 140 private universities were functional nationwide which are currently faced with financial crises, however, efforts are underway to resolve these issues.
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