Tajikistan

Over the period 1994-1998 the number of kindergartens shrank by 200, to 562. During the same period the number of children enrolled more than halved, from 109,000 to 53,000.

The percentage of children aged between ages three and six enrolled in kindergarten has fallen steadily since 1989. In 1996 only 7.7 percent were enrolled. Increasingly, it appears that Tajik families prefer to take care of their children's education in their home, due to lack of heating and personnel, and concerns over rising food costs in the public schools.

Likewise, primary enrollment dropped from 164,000 in 1990 to 130,000 in 1993, but grew to 177,000 in 1998. School dropouts are estimated at some 25 percent of children aged between ages 7 and 17.

There is some international support for primary education in Tajikistan. In Dushanbe city and its environs, CARE supports 60,000 schoolchildren in grades one through four. The economic crisis has severely affected Tajikistan's school system, and the support to the Education Project provides a daily meal to primary school students; helps revitalize parent-teacher associations; supplements teachers' salaries which had fallen to approximately US$8 per month; physically rehabilitates 40 schools in conjunction with local communities; provides coal to schools in winter and purchases, with UNICEF assistance, 60,000 sets of basic textbooks. The project is funded through the monetization of 25,000 tons of U.S. government wheat.

Special emphasis is placed by the state on preschool education, since the development of this branch of education systematically lags behind the requirements of the population. In 1994, some 141,400 children were in preschool institutions, while, in 1998, only 44,200 were enrolled (only 4.3 percent of children of preschool age). The "Concept of Preschool Education" was developed and adopted by the Ministry of Education. A rule about preschool education was then adopted by the resolution of the government of on 12 October 1995.