On August 30, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon visited the International University of Tourism and Entrepreneurship of Tajikistan in Dushanbe, where he held a Lesson on Peace and met with education workers, students and schoolchildren.
Unlike in previous years, this year the president criticized the shortcomings of the education sector less, but, nevertheless, once again raised the problems of a shortage of teachers, textbooks, schools and kindergartens, as well as a small number of teachers with academic degrees and titles.
There are still not enough teachers, kindergartens and textbooks.
Emomali Rahmon said that 131 thousand teachers work in secondary education institutions today. At the same time, 3,848 teachers are missing. According to the president, 3168 graduates of pedagogical specialties were sent to schools in cities and districts this year, but this is not enough.
"In this regard, I would like to emphasize once again that the Ministry of Education and Science and the executive state authorities of regions, cities and districts must completely eliminate the problem of teacher shortages within a year. This year, institutions of higher and secondary vocational education have graduated 17,200 people. We only need 3,500, which means that even now we can meet 100% of our needs," the president noted.
He also expressed concern about the small number of kindergartens and the incomplete coverage of preschool education for children and instructed the Ministry of Education and Science, the heads of regions, cities and districts to bring the level of kindergarten enrollment to 50% by 2030.
The shortage of textbooks is another problem in the education system, which Emomali Rahmon again drew attention to. He instructed the education department to fully provide schools with the necessary textbooks by the end of this year.
In addition, Emomali Rahmon instructed the Ministry of Education and Science, the Academy of Sciences and the Center for Strategic Studies, with the participation of scientists, to re-develop and present the Concept of developing and publishing textbooks.
He stressed that textbooks for schools, colleges, universities and institutes of the country should be examined by scientists of the Academy of Sciences before publication.
According to the president, today there are 48 higher education institutions in the country, where more than 213,000 students study, and 86 institutions of secondary vocational education that train specialists in 250 specialties.
We need to build more than 300 schools a year.
Emomali Rahmon said that over the years of Tajikistan's independence, Tajik entrepreneurs and philanthropists have built 1,435 schools with 231,000 seats. The total cost of the schools built amounted to 1.7 billion somoni.
Currently, 309 schools for 94,000 students are under construction in the country, and 200 buildings will be commissioned by the end of this year.
At the same time, according to him, 308 schools should be built annually in the country in order to completely eliminate the problem of the shortage of secondary education institutions.
No to advertising of foreign medicine on TV
During a conversation with students, the head of Tajikistan expressed concern about the intrusion of foreign medicine into the country and its advertising on domestic TV channels.
He stated that citizens of other countries, using various herbs for treatment, "take the money of the Tajik people," while their services do not benefit citizens.
"The Minister of Health knows this too, I have already made a comment," - Rahmon said.
"I witnessed it myself: you turn on Tajik television, and what's there? Not a Tajik doctor! They advertise a certain treatment center, they say that it cures everything, you will live happily ever after. It seems as if there are no doctors, hospitals, or ministries in Tajikistan," - the president added.
He noted that the "old mentality" still persists in medicine.
"If I'm the chief medical officer, I have to wear a tie, drive a car… It's already in the past. Now be a highly qualified specialist, open your own clinic, and demonstrate your skills. You will become well-off, respected and wealthy. We have already resolved everything – anyone who wants can open their own hospital," - Emomali Rahmon stressed.
What other instructions did Emomali Rahmon give?
The Head of State noted that Tajikistan's education system needs to be improved and revised, improve the quality of education, and provide institutions with teaching staff, textbooks, specialized classrooms, and laboratories.
He stressed that the state standard of general secondary education needs serious modernization. In this regard, he instructed to develop and adopt a new state standard based on the experience of developed countries, which should help improve the quality of education and realize the abilities of graduates.
To fully provide educational institutions with teaching staff, a "State program for the training of teaching staff" should be developed within 6 months.
In addition, an instruction was given to develop common criteria for assessing the quality of education and, by 2044, create a unified framework for analyzing and evaluating students' knowledge, skills and abilities using digital technologies.
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