Thousands of Pakistani students enrolled in various Afghan universities are at the risk of losing their academic year due to the closure of Torkham, a major border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The border was closed by the Ministry of Interior on 17 June for all kinds of movement on the directives of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to stem the spread of coronavirus pandemic. As a result of border closure, Pakistani students studying in varsities across the border have been left stranded in Pakistan. These students had returned to Pakistan in mid-May because of a coronavirus outbreak in Afghanistan and can no longer return due to a lack of policy.
Examinations of many students are set to begin in a few days yet there is no official word on whether or not they will be allowed to take the exams in Afghanistan.
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Thousands of Pakistani students, mostly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are enrolled at the Kabul University, medical colleges, and other universities in the war-torn country.
The NCOC, on the other hand, has allowed Afghan students studying in Pakistani institutions to return to their country but has yet to make an official statement regarding Pakistani students studying in Afghanistan.
Students maintain they have legal travel documents yet the government seems oblivious and unconcerned about their future. Suleiman Shah, a Pakistani student enrolled in Rokhan University Jalalabad, told a local newspaper that there are 203 Pakistani students in his university alone. All of them returned to Pakistan two and a half months ago, but now they cannot go back to Afghanistan.
“Our exams started on 1 August, but I was not allowed to cross the border into Afghanistan due to a lack of medical SOPs,” he added.
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Another student, Saeed Ahmed, said that there were 150 Pakistani students at his medical college, where exams will begin on 5 August
“We are worried about our exams and are stuck in Pakistan. The epidemic first affected our academic year and now the lack of policy could ruin the whole year because we will not be able to sit the exam,” he said.
When Khyber District Deputy Commissioner, Mansoor Akhtar, was contacted on the matter, he said that the border had been closed to pedestrians since 17 June due to the COVID-19.
“I have shared the concerns of the stranded students with the NCOC officials. The district administration is bound to implement the orders of the NCOC,” he stated.
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