Few days ago, a comment posted by a friend on Facebook that Ministry of Higher Education was developing a draft for rationing the annual acceptance of students in higher education of each province. Believe it or not, it seemed like a complete ridiculous and baseless claim to me. But thereafter, messages with similar context were shared and released which made me believe that another miracle is taking place in this miracle-prone country. We are always witness to upside down miracles.

We celebrate the death and birth anniversaries of Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan of subcontinent. We celebrate the anniversaries of Ayatullah Khomeini. We protest against the outstation of President Mursi. Among more than sixty Islamic country and more than a trillion Muslims across the globe, again it is we that kill cut the heads of United Nations personal for the sake of burning of Holy Quran by some unknown stupid priest in the US.

We say that hideouts of al-Qaeda are in Pakistan. Again it is also we that call Pakistan as twin brother and will defend from its soil if the US ever tries to attack it. We are surviving on the financial support of the US, again it is we that vent anger and chant death to US slogan. Same is the case with other issues. If we put them together, it will become a long interesting but disappointing miracles and all are taking in this demarcated location on the surface of the planet. As an unknown Afghan made poetry, saying that unlike the rest of nations we are progressing in reverse.

Now this time we are witness to another upside-down miracle. The Ministry of higher of education has decided to ration the education meanwhile veiled it in the very sympatric slogan like social justice and meritocracy! After huge criticism about the plan that will certainly stop many highly qualified students to find a way into public higher education institution, the deputy to ministry rejected, saying that the plan was designed for paving the way for qualified students.

He said that if the current system continues, the students of part of the country who enjoy peace and work hard will find the way into universities and students from the rest of countries will remain behind doors. He again retreated that qualification is not just in number but security situation and some other issues should be considered! If it was put ahead by educational officials in the rest of countries, perhaps they were imminently dismissed on charges of illiteracy.

The statement was such ridiculous that even in our country which has the pride of hundreds of miracles as I mentioned some in the paragraphs, it looked illogical, childish and mockery of the entire ministry of higher education staff.

Regarding to the notion that the right to education of students would be violated, he responded that Kankour also violates the rights of students because many large number of them cannot pass Kankour exam!

Reading these statements gave feeling of a person who suffers from untreatable diseases. It appeared further painful after hearing that even President Karzai is behind the plan. Of course if it is; he enjoys the support of large number of MPs in the lower house of the parliament.

So, it is highly possible that respected MPs due to their communal sentiments will approve the policy with majority’s vote.

The key factor behind policy is the last year’s controversy over the result of Kankour exam. Last year, students from two most marginalized and ignored provinces had the high rate of entrance in public universities. After the announcement of the result, many students warned that they will join Taliban militants because their rights were violated by students from those two most marginalized and poor provinces.

These provinces have been systematically discriminated by rulers during centuries. After the collapse of Taliban, foreign countries also did not show interest to invest because these were peaceful and huge bulk of their support were generally guided towards restive areas in order to win the heart and mind of people or towards areas where influential and well-connected students live.

Meanwhile, people in these areas have tried their best to cut down their food ration and instead send their children to school. The process has let what we saw last year in annual Kankour exam. The result has angered officials who think about their own ethnicity. For them national interest is something which reflects the interest of their ethnicity. They will try the best to stop students from other communities to improve, no matter their improvement will led to improvement of Afghanistan.

This plan also designed for the same purpose. It is developed on account to ration the annual acceptance of Kankour exam on the basis of province and perhaps districts. Students should compete their fellows within particular province and district for fixed seats. They are not allowed to compete with students across the country. The result will remain behind the doors of public universities with highmarks but others with horrible score will succeed. This is branded as social justice. What a justice?

This plan particularly target Hazara community who during last 12 years cut down their food ration and instead to pay for their children to go school. They never waited for the government because they knewthat government would do nothing for them if it does not stop them to do so. On the other hand, sending children to schools, however large in comparison to their family revenues, was not so huge to disappoint families. But the case of higher education is completely different.

First of all, we do not have university at district or provincial level. Any students who want to continue their higher education generally migrate to Kabul and other big provinces. The expense of travel and settlement are huge burden that many students from provinces like Daikundi and Bamyan cannot handle. When I was in Kabul University, two of my classmates postponed their educational annum on account to work and save enough money to continue their education.

As you might know that Kabul University gets no fee and also provides students free hostel. They did not have a small sum of money to buy educational materials. What does the plan mean for such students who studied night and day and will succeed in Kankour exam if the process be transparent and just? Can they go to private universities and pay thousands of Afghani per semester while being in need of few hundred Afghanis to buy their educational materials? Therefore, it can be one of the cruelest laws which are deliberately designed to discriminate people.