KABUL (SW) – Officials at most private kindergartens in Kabul say that the number of children in these kindergartens has decreased by 80% in the last two years.
Soraya Ali, the director of “Nahal” private kindergarten in the first road of Taimani project in Kabul city, said that in this kindergarten, which has three classes, in each class only two to three children are playing, learning elementary education and singing songs. According to her, since two years, the number of children in this kindergarten has decreased from 35 to just 8. The director of Nahal Kindergarten added: “In the beginning, there were many children. Previously, we had 30 to 35 students. When the Islamic Emirate came, it went from 35 to six to eight children.”
In this report, the officials of 10 private kindergartens in Kabul were interviewed, and the officials of eight kindergartens said that the number of children in these kindergartens has decreased by 80% and in the other two kindergartens, the number of children has decreased by 60%.
Munira Kazemi, the head of “Naz Mader” Kindergarten, said that before the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, about 120 children were cared for in this kindergarten. But now, this number has decreased to 20 children.
The officials of most of the private kindergartens in Kabul say that most of the people who took their children to the kindergarten were women who worked in foreign aid institutions. But with restrictions placed on women’s work, most of them stay at home and do not send their children to kindergarten.
Meanwhile, a number of mothers in Kabul say that they keep their children at home due to their inability to pay for kindergarten.
Shamsia Sadat, a resident of Kabul who previously worked in a foreign aid organization, said: “I used to have a job and I had a good income. I take my children to kindergarten. Now my husband and I are unemployed and we cannot afford to pay for kindergarten.”
Aziza Rahimi, an employee in the previous government, who used to send her child to kindergarten, says that now she takes care of her child at home due to the bad economic situation. She added: “A mother wishes to provide the best things to her child but it is very difficult to be prevented by a weak economy. We cannot send our children to kindergarten.”
Samiullah Ebrahimi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, told Salam Watandar that now 14 residential kindergartens, 103 workplace kindergartens and 18 private kindergartens are operating in Kabul city. He said: “At the center level, we have 14 residential kindergartens, 103 workplace kindergartens, and 18 private kindergartens.”
It should be mentioned that the decrease in the number of children in private kindergartens in Kabul has caused most of the kindergartens to fire some of their teachers as well.
ENDS
