DUSHANBE, September 24, 2008 Asia-Plus  -- Students are sent to cotton plantations at request of local authorities of the Sughd and Khatlon province, Noilsho Nouraliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education (MoE), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.  

According to him, the ministry has not issued any resolution on sending students to the cotton plantations.  “However, the president himself has given permission to use student labor during the cotton harvesting campaign during one month – from September 22 to October 22,” the spokesman said.  

According to him, only students of higher educational institutions and vocational-technical schools are sent to cotton fields, while students at general secondary schools will not be sent because Article 26 of the RT Law “On Education” forbids use labor of students from high schools during cotton harvest.  

Thousands of students in the Sughd and Khatlon provinces, temporarily abandon their studies to work the cotton harvest.