Education in Tajikistan
|National education budget (2005)|
|Primary languages||Tajik, Russian|
Education in Tajikistan consists of four years of primary school followed by two stages of secondary school (lasting five and two years, respectively). Attendance at school is mandatory from age seven to seventeen. Tajik is the main language of instruction through secondary school, but in 2003 Russian was restored as a mandatory second language.
While the official literacy rate in Tajikistan is 98%, the poor quality of education since 1991 has reduced the skill level of younger people. Although education is compulsory, many children fail to attend because of economic needs and security concerns in some regions. In 2001, pre-primary enrollment was less than 6% of eligible children.
In 2005 the total government expenditure on education was about US$80 million, or 15.9% of the national budget. The figure was scheduled to rise to US$108 million (17.3% of the budget) in 2006. A presidential program raised the salaries of teachers by 25% in 2005.
Some private schools and colleges have appeared in urban centers, and Russian and Uzbek schools exist. 33 institutions of higher learning were operating in 2003 when a constitutional amendment, however, abolished free higher education. That year, total enrollment was 96,600.
Challenges, issues and concerns
Tajikistan’s educational system suffers from a depleted infrastructure and an acute shortage of teachers at all levels, which will increase because of the relatively high birthrate. The state-supported Soviet system remains in place, but the poor condition of the national economy and years of civil war sharply reduced funding in the early 2000s; government spending, however, began to increase in 2004.
During a round table entitled “Education in the Period of Independence” held December 2, 2010 in Dushanbe, the minister of education decreed that a 12-year educational system will be implemented in three phases. The first phase began during the 2010-2011 academic year, and the transition to a 12-year system is expected to be complete by 2016.
- Tajikistan country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (January 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- FINAL RESULTS DECLARED BY THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF TAJIKISTAN Khovar December 2, 2010 Accessed January 13, 2011