| Education System in Tajikistan |
The Tajikistan education system generally speaking receives a failing grade among reviewers, although there are plans in place to reverse the trends that followed the final years of Soviet occupation and the violence that overthrew it. Education currently consists of 4 years of primary school followed by 7 at two-tiered secondary school. That said, it is free through to age 17, the national literacy rate does hover on 100%, and the authorities have promised that a 12 year system will be fully implemented by 2016.
Students fortunate enough to do so, spend 5 years at middle school, which is the end of the line for most of those that do. This is because Tajikistan is a poor country where teachers are paid low wages that force them to moonlight at best, and where bribes are still required to influence some admission boards.
Upper secondary schooling is a 2 year program where students are prepared for admission to university. Standards and facilities at state schools are average to poor by modern western standards. Some private schools and colleges are beginning to appear.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war that followed left many learning centers and their workshops in ruins. The government lacked the money to address this adequately, although in recent years the european association for the education of adults has been working with the government to help address this.
There are an impressive number of tertiary education institutions in Tajikistan. One of the larger and oldest ones is Khujand State University that was established in 1932.
There are 76 departments in 15 faculties, which include Mathematics, Physics & Engineering, Art & Graphics, Cybernetics, Foreign Languages, Management & Computer Technology Institute, Russian Philology, Uzbek Philology, Education & Teaching, Tajik Philology, Oriental Languages, Natural Sciences, History, Finance and Market Economy & Art. The University is beginning to move forward again.
