German Aids for Afghan Scholars and Students

The German government aims to help needed Afghan scholars and students. Due to the unorganized educational situation under the governance of the Taliban in Afghanistan, several main Germany’s educational institutions are seeking ways to educate Afghans.

Now, around three and one-half months after the Taliban seized the power, the educational situation and atmosphere has been darkened in Kabul: government universities are closed, for months their employees have not been paid, male and female students are separated in private universities; the outlook and the future for scholars and students, especially for female ones, looks totally frustrating and disappointing.

Konrad Schuster, conflict researcher and board member of AGA, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, said that regarding this situation, those Afghan scholars who left Afghanistan are trying to communicate with the western countries. AGA is an association of scholars and other experts with a common interest who are in exchange of educational information about Afghanistan from 1966 afterward.

Sponsored links

Konrad Schuster says that those Afghan scholars who he knows about, who were working in university departments, and left the country before, are now seeking refuge in the United States of America or Germany. “We are now observing the flee of elites from Afghanistan, before all, on the way to the west.”

Support for Afghan Scholars from Germany’s educational institutions is requested by two of the German educational organizations which are the most popular in educational exchange by providing scholarships. These two are the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Alexander von Humboldt (AvH).

Sponsored links

Dr. Christian Hülshörster, manager of scholarship programs in an interview with Deutsche Welle said “We provided in total 50 scholarships last year under Hilde-Domain-Program.” From which some were given to Afghan students. He added, “recently, we reached an agreement with the German Foreign Ministry on the provision of other financial resources.”

Therefore, with high possibility, we can provide 25 to 30 more scholarships for them. Hild-Domain-Program is related to the German Academic Exchange Services Organization established around one year ago. This program, on a world scale, is supposed to support especially at-risk students of Ph.D. level whose educational rights are officially or practically deprived. So they re-continue their studies in Germany.

Philipp Schwarts-Initiative organization which is founded by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation with the cooperation of the German Foreign Affairs Ministry in the year 2015, is pursuing the same goal.

Frank.Albrecht, the head of the Schwarts Initiative said that the issues of Afghan scholars are serious: “Daily, we receive help requests even from those who are not related to educational issues… but we can only provide support for those with problems in educational contexts.” He added that according to the dimensions of challenges in Afghanistan, we must seek new possibilities and ways. He is hopeful that this supportive program will commence after a few months.

German Academic Exchange Services Organization in support of Afghans in high education context makes use of the same possibilities. Dr. Christian Hülshörster manager of scholarship programs of this organization described: “The target of these supportive programs, before all, is those Afghans who are in Germany, and due to the political discoveries at their homeland can not receive financial supports from their parent anymore.”

This program also covers those who previously studies in Germany, but due to the current situation cannot return back to their homeland. Konrad Schuster expects that in long term the situation in Afghanistan will improve less.

Due to this reason, he thinks that there is little hope to encourage the Taliban in western understanding of knowledge. Christian Hülshörster says that they have the same idea at the German Academic Exchange Services Organization. “for this reason, next year, we will see ourselves facing the question: what we can do for those who cannot come to Germany? We think about virtual learning. We want to do our part in Afghanistan to prevent from a situation of losing a generation.”

He added that they are discussing providing scholarships programs in a third country. “In consideration to a huge community of Afghans living in neighbor countries, we are evaluating if we could provide educational possibilities named; third country scholarships.”

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is also thinking of a durable aid. Frank.Albrecht, says “It will be irresponsible” leaving education half-finished “and leave the students on their own after primitive educational aids.” He insists that due to these reasons, serious attention must be paid to any possible supports and programs for the future.

Scholarship in Germany

  • Check all available educational opportunities in Germany HERE.
Share
Sponsored links

Related Posts