Youngsters Seek Escapist Lifestyle

Jamshid, 19, is the picture of cool. Standing beside his motorcycle in a busy shopping district in central Kabul, he sports dark glasses, jeans and a gold chain. He left school after 10th grade to pursue a more hedonistic lifestyle - which he may find difficult, since he is unemployed.

“We are tired after all the years of war,” he said, shrugging. “Now we just want to do things that make us feel good. Education cannot heal our wounds.”

Three decades of war, mass population displacements, and the Taleban’s five-year war on all forms of entertainment have caused Afghanistan’s young people to rebel against over-serious pursuits, say analysts. They want instant returns on any investment of time and money.

“Most young people today think that all they need to know is English and computer skills,” said Abdul Haq, a lecturer in psychology at Kabul University. “That way they can find well-paid jobs in foreign organisations, and they don’t see any need for further study.”

This is a normal reaction to the period of upheaval the country has endured, according to Abdul Haq. In the past, before war tore the country apart, the university library would have been full of young people studying political science, history and other academic disciplines.

Now, he says, most young people prefer to spend their time watching films, television, and music videos.

Even those who do continue their studies find it difficult to concentrate, given the easy access to a pop culture that still has novelty value.

“Under the Taleban, I used to read all the time,” said a female student at Kabul’s medical institute, who did not want to be named. “But now I cannot even keep up with my university studies. Television keeps me too busy.”

Critics say the situation is getting worse every day, with the result that young Afghans are becoming strangers to their own culture while they take in the latest Bollywood movies and Iranian music.

Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, an independent writer and researcher, points the finger at the media, which he accuses of steering youth in the wrong direction, all in the name of freedom.

"I don’t know whether press freedom means showing people dancing almost naked, or what," he said.

The breakdown of the family, also a legacy of war, comes in for its share of the blame as well.

“It is the responsibility of families to encourage youth to study,” said Liwal. “The government has to make educational programmes a priority.”

It may be too soon to expect Afghanistan’s young people to buckle down to their studies, says Professor Aziz Ahmad Rahmand, chairman of the modern history department at Kabul University. The security situation is still too unsettled and the future too uncertain to expect them to commit to an education.

“This is not yet an atmosphere in which young people can study,” he said.

Another factor is that the infrastructure needed for a viable education system does not yet exist, says Nasrullah Stanikzai, the deputy minister of information, culture, and tourism.

“Afghanistan is just now emerging from years of crisis,” he said. “Youth want to escape into cheap movies, television and narcotics. They don’t have the support – there are no good libraries for them, they are poor. It’s all understandable.”

Some of the responsibility lies with the family as well as with the schools and universities, said Stanikzai.

He believes the education ministry should establish a network of libraries across the country, “Donor countries and non-governmental organisations have to realise that a school without a library is not a school at all.”

But library staff say young people are not interesting in using the facilities that are currently available.Abdul Hamid Nabizada, deputy head of the Kabul department of public libraries, which oversees the city library as well as a few small collections across the country, says few young people now visit apart from those who need to do research for their university studies.

"When a young person watches films until midnight, how is he or she supposed to study the next day?” he asked.

According to Nabizada, before the civil warfare of the Nineties, his library issued up to 5,000 membership cards, but now they have only 2,700 cardholders, 500 of whom are local residents and the rest school and university students.

Engineer Raihana Popalzai, 37, head of the Kabul University Library, grumbles about the lack of interest even among the university’s 10,000 students.

She said that approximately 1,000 students come to the library regularly, but even they are focused on pursuits other than study. “Young people try to learn English so they can abuse the internet, getting on to [porn] sites or engaging in chats,” she said. “Their improper use of the library means they have less energy to use for their studies.”

Kabul’s booksellers are also feeling the change.

Mullah Mohammad Sherin, who runs a bookstore in central Kabul, has been in the business for 44 years. "I have been selling books since I was a child,” he said. “We had a good income until the fall of Najibullah’s government [in 1992]. Young people would come in asking for various books. Instead of selling novels and history books, I used to lend them out for money, because that gave me more income.”

But now young people are fixated on dictionaries and English language courses, he said. The rest of their time - and money - is spent on pirate videos. “Young people are watching films rather than reading books,” he concluded.

Mohammad Hassan, who has had a shop in the Pul-e-Bagh-e-Umomi area of Kabul for 20 years, says business has fallen away sharply in recent years.

"I only sell two or three books in a whole day, and they are bought by students on private English and computer courses. The others are just not in demand,” he said.

Officials at the newly created youth ministry also have concerns about the trends affecting young people, but is so far unprepared to take any specific actions.

“The youth ministry just started up in 2005,” said Mohammad Sediq Oria, an advisor to the ministry. “We need some time to develop a strategy and put our programme into practice.”

He said the ministry is planning to set up libraries as well as internet centres and sports clubs, and will work with other government institutions to explore the apparent alienation of Afghanistan’s youth.

Amina, 17, is in the ninth grade at the Bibi Sarwari Sangari school. In traditional schoolgirl garb of black dress and white headscarf, she was rushing to class and at first did not want to be interviewed. But she did admit that studying was not her primary interest.

"I don’t have enough time for studying,” she said. “I like to read fashion magazines and watch television.”

Salima Ghafari is an IWPR reporter in Kabul.