Tajikistan - Nonformal Education

Not all learning takes place in schools. The Tajikistan cultural heritage sector has suffered from a lack of infrastructure. Between 1995 and 1998, not a single club was built by public funds and the number of books in the stocks of the rural libraries declined thousand of copies. City libraries are supported mainly by international organizations, and mainly school students visit libraries. Cultural employees get small salaries, equaling the average budget salary (approximately US$3.00).

Education experts say innovative programs, like distance education, could be one of the answers to education pains in countries such as Tajikistan. Distance education, based upon new information technologies, offers an opportunity to "reach the unreached," explains Dr. Mikhail Karpenko, rector of the Moscow-based Modern University of Humanities (MUH). MUH has tens of thousands of distance education students throughout Russian and former Soviet states. The university, which is also mulling projects in China, has set up an outlet in Khudjant, Tajikistan, recognizing the high potential for distance education in this mountainous country.