After Return

Certification of learning
For other young returnees (five separate cases), it
was not a concrete gap in their previous education
that prevented them from moving forward, but an
inability to prove that they had obtained a relevant
level of learning - either because certificates were
unavailable, or unrecognised.
Three young people told of how they did not
have the certificates to evidence their studies in
the UK. In all cases, this was as a result of having
been detained and forcibly removed without the
relevant certificates. One young person explained
that although he had Level 1 BTEC certificates in his
house, “when they detained me, they didn’t let me
get my stuff” (R01, ILD), and another elaborated
further, saying:
“I have not been able to continue my education.
I studied until the end of Year 11 in the UK. When I
came to Kabul and went to a school for admission,
they wanted the documents from UK, but I did not
have my documents with me… [In the UK] Police
arrested me from outside my room and all my stuff,
including certificates remained in my home. There
was nobody who I could request to go and get
them for me. I love to study and I am desperate to
continue my studies. But the challenge in continuing
my education is to have all the documents and take
it to the school or the education department. Then
they might accept me back to school. Unfortunately
I don’t have any of those documents.” (R04, IM12)
Other young returnees had managed to bring back
their UK certificates, or had had support workers
send scanned copies to them, only to discover
that they were not recognised in Kabul. One young
person was told that he would need to get his UK
certificates certified by the Afghan Embassy in the
UK to demonstrate that they are equivalent to an
Afghan Year 12 School Leavers’ certificate, and
another reiterated that “I have all my certificates,
but the certificates don’t help me here” (R18, ILD).
enquiring about the availability of places for young
returnees, our researchers were repeatedly told that
the given institution would be happy to provide them
with a course - but only if they were contracted to
do so at high cost by a referring agency.
Other young returnees struggled with the hidden
costs of continuing their education, with one of the
few who managed to re-enrol in school telling us
that “I did not have money to pay for the bus ticket,
so I was walking a long distance every day” (R14,
ILD), and another that “I have to pay for books, and
travel to and from school - I can’t do this for long”
(R15, SI9).
Poor mental health and
availability of relevant education
Mental health difficulties emerged as one of the
most significant challenges for young returnees
(see Chapter 10). In the context of continuing
education, three young people repeatedly told
our researchers that mental health struggles have
prevented them from studying. They explained that
anxiety and feelings of hopelessness meant that they
“don’t have the mindset for studying” (R14, IFI). For
other young people who explained that they tried
to push ahead despite experiencing comparable
feelings, the quality and relevance of available
education discouraged them from persisting, with
one young returnee concluding (after making
repeated attempts to continue his education, with
some success, and some failure, for 18 months) that
“the education system here is not very serious. To be
honest, everything I try is a waste of time” (R15, IFI).
Cost of study
Five young returnees identified the explicit or hidden
costs of studying itself as a barrier to continuing
education.
In many cases, enrolling on a course costs money. As
a part of this research, a mapping exercise identified
numerous organisations, many NGOs, offering
literacy, skills training and vocational courses in Kabul
and other major cities in Afghanistan. However, the
vast majority either had very specific eligibility criteria
that excluded the young people of concern to this
research (for example, courses for girls who had
experienced Gender Based Violence (GBV) only), or
charged fees. When visiting education providers and
After Return 36