DUSHANBE, April 11, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Teacher shortages are decreasing in the country, Education Minister Abdujabbor Rahmonov remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on April 10.

According to him, Tajikistan now has 3,209 teaching vacancies, while in 2006, the country had 8,991 teaching vacancies.

The minister noted that 4,705 peoples that graduated from colleges and universities last academic year had been sent to work with schools; however, only 3,158 of them had come to schools.  “The Ministry of Education applied to court asking to exact money spent on their education from those 1,547 persons refusing to work with schools and after that, a certain number of them came to schools,” Rahmonov said.

Speaking to reporters, the minister noted that the ministry had worked out a new national general education standard complying with standards adopted by the CIS states.  The new general education standard regulates activities of all comprehensive schools in the country, the minister said.