Female students in grade 6-12 still face an uncertain future as Sunday marks 500 days that schools have been closed for girls in those grades.

The students said the closed schools have faced them with psychological problems and mental pressure.

“It is very important that we bear witness to these events, that all women and girls have been deprived of their education,” said Sadaf, a student.

“They are in a very bad condition. When they sleep at night and wake up in the mornings, the tears are in their eyes and they say that 'I dreamed the schools are reopened,'” said Sadia, a student.

This comes as blind female students also expressed concerns about their uncertain future.

Malika, who is blind, is a student of grade 11.

Malika said that the only hope she had was school, but she has been deprived of it for several months.

“Last year, when the schools were closed, I was in despair. I faced depression and felt that there is no way to come back from it,” she said.

“I request that the doors of schools be reopened for us. We cannot study at home,” said Parwana, a student.

“We are facing a lot of problems. We want the doors of the schools to be reopened for us, at least for us, the blind people,” said Shabana, a student.

The head of the department in Kabul responsible for issues of blind people, Faridullah Azizi, urged the Islamic Emirate to reopen the doors of the schools for the female students.

“3,500 blind female students have been registered with us, that also includes the provinces. 500 of them belong to the provinces and 3,000 to the capital,” he said.

Political analysts and women’s rights activists called on the Islamic Emirate to remain committed to its promises.

“Higher education is the Islamic right of a girl. The current government has not paid significant efforts to reopening girls’ schools over the past 16 months,” said Torek Farhadi, a political analyst.

“The blind female students above grade six are the most vulnerable parts of Afghanistan’s society, who even have not received attention during the time of the Republican government,” said Marriam Marouf Arvin, a women’s rights activist.

The Islamic Emirate officials, including the Education Ministry, declined commenting on the matter.