Out-of-school Paper 9:

Out of School Children

Girls Paper Series

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By Shazia Amjad
 Out of School Children

Out-Of-School Girls: Challenges And Policy Responses

In Girls’ Education In Tajikistan

By Shazia Amjad

Girls’ education is critically important for Tajikistan. It impacts not only the future sociocultural fabric
of the country, but is also crucial in evolving, shaping and moulding the attitudes and behaviours
of the future generations of the country. As a transition country in a rehabilitative phase, Tajikistan
needs to evaluate the costs and benefits of educating girls. A substantial body of education research
proves that investing in girls’ education not only has positive spillover and ripple effects, but is also
reflective of a progressive society. Tajikistan is a young country with two thirds of its population
under 25 years of age. Focusing its education policy towards increasing girls’ access and equity in
education would contribute to qualitative social change.
Education indicators have worsened for girls in Tajikistan (UNICEF 2007 a). Tajikistan is one of the
countries in Central Asia that is farthest away from achieving Millennium Development Goal 3,
“Promote gender equality and empower women.” The problem of gender disparity in Tajikistan is
most acute in the upper secondary level.
This paper looks at the issue of girls’ education in Tajikistan and explores international best practices
for innovative and creative strategies to improve girls’ access and drop-out rates in schools.
However, recommended polices and their implementation should take into account the realities of
sociocultural and religious factors. Policies cognizant of and embedded in these realities will play an
important part not only in changing attitudes and behaviours, but in helping to redefine gender roles
and identity in Tajik society.
In this paper, Section 1 looks at characteristics of Tajik education and challenges faced by girls and
the reasons for their lower enrolment rates, high absenteeism and high drop-out rates in secondary
schools. Section 2 delineates some of the reasons for girls’ low participation rates. Section 3 presents
the current situation of how Tajikistan’s government and other educational stakeholders have dealt
with the issue, and what the strategy has been so far for improving inclusion of girls in schools. A
literature review in Section 4 analyses the importance of girls’ inclusion into the education system
as substantiated by the current best practices and interventions. An attempt is made to highlight
the approaches taken to girls’ education in sociocultural and economic contexts that are similar
to Tajikistan. The paper concludes with recommendations for the Tajik government and other
international and local NGOs that are working in Tajikistan to promote informed gender-parity
policymaking.

1. Girls out of school: defining the problem

Girls have unequal access to education to secondary schools in Tajikistan, as evidenced by their lower
participation rates, lower completion rates and lower levels of achievement. The gender imbalance
is especially prevalent at the upper level of secondary schools, where the overall girls’ attendance
rate declined from 49 per cent in 1991, to 38 per cent in 2001 (MOE 2005a). According to the EFA
Monitoring Report, the male/female gender parity index (GPI) for 2006 in upper and lower secondary

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schools is 0.61 and 0.89 per cent, respectively; the overall secondary school Gender Parity Index
(GPI), which reflects girls’ enrolment rates divided by boys’ enrolment rates, is 0.83. The secondary
school net enrolment rate in 2006 for females was 74 per cent, compared to 87 per cent for males
(UNESCO 2008). Primary-school enrolment rates are generally high but decrease with age; after age
11, the fall is more pronounced among girls than boys, and the share of girls in total enrolment has
decreased; in 2004, just 38 per cent of girls were enrolled in grades 9–11 (UNICEF 2007b).
Overall, boys outnumber girls in schools, and the number of girls in general education is decreasing
steadily from one grade to the next; girls are dropping out before the end of compulsory schooling
in greater numbers than boys. The gender gap in education has widened in recent years. The gap is
much larger than indicated in the official data, which shows that 75 per cent of girls complete nine
years of schooling, versus 90 per cent of boys (MOE 2005a).
Recent studies have found that there are significant differences in enrolment in secondary education
between girls and boys. According to the MDG needs assessment report, the number of students in
general secondary education will increase by 40 per cent between 2005 and 2015 (UNICEF 2007a).
The 2003 data on poverty level assessment revealed that in cities and urban settlements, access to
education above grade four decreased by six per cent for boys and 18 per cent for girls, compared
to 4 per cent for boys and 7 per cent for girls in rural areas (MOE 2005a). According to the Tajik
Qualitative Survey, the gender gap in school attendance has increased; in 2003, twice the number of
rural girls dropped out of schools as boys (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 2005). Enrolment
in private schools remains overwhelmingly male (MOE 2005a).

1.1 Reasons why girls are out of school

This section examines the reasons that contribute to declining attendance of girls in schools
in Tajikistan. Equitable access to education for girls is a case of double jeopardy. Tajik society is
characterized by strongly gender-based roles; poverty, combined with the cost of education, tends
to further exacerbate the plight of girls.
Social attitudes and religion
The challenge of girls’ education needs to be examined in the context of the complex sociocultural
issues in Tajikistan and traditional practices that have survived in the country. Recent research finds
that poverty alone does not constitute the main obstacle to girls’ education. It is the Tajik post-
Soviet culture, and social attitudes and behaviours, which prevents girls from attending schools
and/or causes them to drop out. Discussions with girls and their parents have shown evidence of
strong stereotypes, which have the effect of confining girls to social roles in which beauty, good
housekeeping, child-rearing skills and special care for in-laws are considered the most valued qualities
for women. By contrast, higher education, modernity and a good job are qualities by which men
are measured (UNICEF 2007b). The Monitoring Learning Achievement study (2002) also indicates
a growing gender bias that is expressed in textbooks and by teachers. The MLA also reported that
one in five students think that it is the responsibility of girls to take care of and clean the house. A
UNICEF gender review (2007b) also pointed out that 57 per cent of the participants agree that boys’
education is more important than girls. Even among girls, approximately 40 per cent believe that
education will not impact their quality of life in any way.
The acceptance by girls of their stereotypical roles and docility is also an important barrier to
education. Girls spend their daytime hours doing household chores alone in the confinement of
their homes without regular outside contact (MOE 2005b). However, UNICEF (2007b) contends

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that for meaningful policy interventions, it is necessary to go beyond the simple cultural/religious
explanations to explore the reasons for the recent trend in gender disparity in the education sector.
The UNICEF review asserts that only a deep understanding of the underlying causes can lead to
gender-sensitive policies and strategies.
Daughters in Tajikistan are considered temporary members of their own families. Parents consider
investing in their daughter’s education unfruitful because when they are old enough, girls are to be
married off and contribute economically to the benefit of their husbands. The purpose of education
for boys, on the other hand, is to support their families and take care of their parents (UNICEF 2007b);
parents thus consider that the cost of educating sons will be recovered through their enhanced
economic productivity (MOE 2005b). It was also found that spending on girls’ education was not a
priority in the families. This attitude may also be a legacy of Soviet times. For more than 70 years,
education in the Soviet system was free, and many families are still not accustomed to setting aside
money for education.
Religion is a very powerful force in Tajikistan that rules family and community life. Religion condones
most of the discriminatory practices against women, promoting control over women’s social life,
women’s confinement in homes and their obligation to do house work. Following the religious
and traditional spirit in Tajikistan, many girls attend Bihatun, which are religious classes that are
considered an alternative form of education for girls. Bihatun are provided free of charge and they
are perceived to provide more relevant skills for future married life; some of these schools also teach
handiwork and embroidery (Falkingham and Baschieri 2006).
Poverty
Tajikistan has a Gini Index of 0.33 (UNESCO 2008). Studies point out that when gender disparities are
prevalent in societies, being born into a poor, rural or indigenous household reinforces such gender
disadvantages. This can be seen in Tajikistan, where many children who have dropped out said that
their parents did not have money to send them to school. In the case of girls, this disadvantage
was reinforced when they were forced to stay at home and learn how to read and write from their
parents or brothers; in some cases the girls and the younger children were taken out of school so
that the older children could continue their education (UNICEF 2007 b).
Poverty remains a main barrier to girls’ education. According to the World Bank (2009) in 2007,
about 53 per cent of the Tajik population was living below the poverty line of $41 USD per month.
Families are unable to cover the cost of clothes, books, shoes, and textbooks. Child poverty is higher
than the overall poverty rate, as 66 per cent of children under age 18 are defined as poor. Levels of
child poverty vary by age, with younger children more likely to be poor than older children; it also
varies with the level of parental education, with children of better-educated parents – and in rural
areas, children of higher educated mothers – being less likely to be poor (UNICEF 2007a).
The poor state of school facilities – some schools lack heating, school furniture and electricity – acts
as a disincentive for families to invest in education. Surveys have shown that lack of adequate heating
in winter significantly influences attendance rates. The Tajikistan PRSP reported that approximately
56 per cent of all educational institutions in the country are not equipped with heating systems;
most of these ill-equipped schools are located in rural mountainous areas.
Cost and benefits
The issue of girls’ schooling in Tajikistan must be examined within a cost-benefit framework. For parents
and decision makers in the family to consider the education of girls as a worthwhile investment, the
benefits must exceed all types of costs: direct and indirect, material and non-material.

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A critical reason for girls dropping out of school is that parents are unable to pay for the cost of
school resources such as notebooks, paper and uniforms. In Tajikistan, a presidential decree requires
all students to wear school uniforms, although the decree is not strictly enforced. Nevertheless, girls
face peer pressure; having no uniform or a torn one prevents and discourages them from attending
schools. Girls do not want to be seen in poor and shaming attire (UNICEF 2007b).
There are challenges to girls’ education in Tajikistan both from the supply and demand sides. On
the supply side, the government is responding to fiscal difficulties by reducing funding to education.
Due to limited government resources, education currently receives about 2.4 per cent of GDP, which
is low even compared to other countries of the region (e.g., education funding in Kyrgyzstan is 3.9
per cent of GDP). The scarcity of resources has had dire consequences for education financing in
Tajikistan, contributing to low wages of teachers, poor teacher recruitment, an increasing reliance on
an aging group of professionals, frustration amongst teachers about the lack of recognition for their
work, and resource starved of the learning environments (UNICEF 2007). The scarcity of education
resources is also responsible for leaking school roofs, broken windows and non-functioning heating
systems (UNESCO 2000). The 2005 MLA Study confirms that 93.9 per cent of the schools surveyed
do not have ventilation, and most lack a heating system and teaching aids (UNICEF 2007 b). UNICEF
(2007a) reports the lack of desks and chairs as a major issue in Tajik schools. Tajikistan imports
school furniture at the cost of approximately US$30 for a desk and two chairs, which many schools
can not afford. Many children are forced to stand because there are not enough desks and chairs
available in a typical class session.
Transport costs are an important factor affecting the attendance of girls in rural schools, especially
in the mountainous regions of Tajikistan. UNICEF has reported that there is a significant difference
in distances that students must travel to attend schools in rural versus urban areas (UNICEF 2007
b). Concerns about girls’ safety and isolation in long walking distances also prevent parents from
sending girls to school. This issue requires further research for informed policymaking.
Along with the factors mentioned above, the issues of school funds contributions, corruption, and
growth of private tutoring have also contributed to increasing education costs. This has led to families
relying more on children going to work, thus keeping many children out of school. On the demand
side, severe economic dislocations have probably dissuaded the students and parents from making
the necessary sacrifices needed to pay for education (UNICEF 2007a).

Quality of education
Another very important reason that has contributed to girls not going to school is the poor quality of
teachers, which has damaged the value of schools in the eyes of parents. The schools and education
are not as relevant to the labour market as during Soviet times; people believe that education is
not related to jobs, which are no longer regulated by the central government, as they were during
the Soviet time. In 2000, over 20 per cent of teachers lacked professional training and often used
outdated and inadequate pedagogical skills. Hence, since parents already perceived that girls should
marry young off and be of benefit to somebody else, they have been satisfied with their daughters
just learning to read and write. Since women are increasingly entering the teaching force (47 per cent
of teachers were women in 2006, compared to 37 per cent in 1991), being poorly educated adversely
affects the career prospects of women in a country where unemployment rates are unusually high.
Further eroding the value of education is the poor quality of teaching, and the fact that many in the
teaching profession have a negative view of themselves (UNICEF 2007b). Teachers compare their
social status to what it was in Soviet times – when teachers belonged to the elite – and say that they

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are no longer respected and that the profession lacks honour. Additionally, teachers receive $ 4–6
per month, which is below the average wage in Tajikistan. Poor salaries lead teachers to seek extra
income through private tuition; 5–10 per cent of teachers are also reported as ghost teachers, i.e.
non-existent teachers who remain on the payroll (UNICEF 2007b).
Child labour
Another very important factor that contributes to all children, but especially girls, being out of
school is the labour force participation of children in the cotton growing areas. A research study
by the International Organisation for Migration and the Tajik NGO ‘Pulse’ report that more than 72
per cent of children took part in cotton harvesting in 2003, working from 30 to 60 days per year.
According to the study, wherever communities have a high proportion of land with slopes of less
than five degrees that are potentially arable, their children are less likely to be enrolled in schools
(Jane and Baschieri, 2006). The MOE national strategy document (MOE 2005a) lists children taking
part in cotton harvesting as one of the most important reasons for non-attendance and dropouts,
irrespective of gender, although girls are known to work harder and longer. The assumption is that
since parents prefer to educate boys, girls should spend more time in the fields (Jane and Baschieri,
2006).

2. Background
Tajikistan has 2.8 million children who are less than 18 years of age. There are 1.6 million students in
grades 1–11, of whom 46.4 per cent are girls. Tajikistan is one of the few countries in the world where
men and women aged 20–30 have a much lower level of education than the previous generation
(MOE 2005a).
The reasons and barriers to girls’ education are understood better when further examined in the
context of Tajikistan’s radically changing polity, society and economy since the 1990s. The speed and
magnitude of economic and political change has been fast and disruptive. A civil war that lasted from
1992 to 1997 damaged or completely destroyed 20 per cent of school infrastructure; it also destroyed
a significant proportion of school heating, water and sanitation systems, and a considerable number
of textbooks were lost and have not been replaced (World Bank 2003). Additionally, widespread
poverty, exacerbated by a downturn in the economy, has had a profound impact on the quality of
services and on education resources, particularly for girls in the upper secondary level and (ADB
2003b).
Women have suffered the most in the Tajik civil war, contending with both physical and psychological
scars. This has resulted in an unusual rise in early marriages that prevent girls from attending schools,
a re-emergence of deep rooted cultural and religious practices, and a reassertion of pre-Soviet
patriarchal legacies, such as the oppression of women, child labour and clan-based and religious
feuding (OSI 2002). However, Tadjbakhsh (1998) has argued that the attitudes towards women in
Tajikistan are not a case of a revival of old religious values, but that these values had also existed
in the Soviet era. Soviets, according to Tadjbakhsh, tried to resolve the issue of women’s inclusion
in the public sphere by allocating quotas in the parliament and Communist Party and by creating
Women’s Councils. However, Tajik society remained divided into the ‘public sphere’ outside the
home, and the ‘private’ realm of the household that was not touched by the state.
Tadjbakhsh argues further that Soviet scholars, when examining the status of Islam, interpreted
the lack of madrasas and mosques in the public sphere as an indication that Tajik society had done

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away with orthodox Islam. The Soviets often overlooked the practise of Islam within the household,
because that was the private sphere. As the Asian Human Rights Commission reported, “Tajikistan
has always been a patriarchal, traditional and rural society, and civil society has never been mobilized
by girls’ education. It [educating girls] was a decision of the [Soviet] state imposed from the top”
(2004).
A women’s life in Tajikistan, according to Tadjbahksh, has been moulded and shaped by “a symbiosis
between the word of Allah, the word of V.I. Lenin and that of men, both Tajik and Russian” (1998,
164). Tadjbahksh is of the view that many customary practices and traditions survived in the family
setting, as the Soviet Russian society was considered “alien” and was “not entirely effective in
changing the private lives of women within the families in Tajikistan” (1998, 167).
The challenge of girls’ education in Tajikistan thus needs to be examined in detail in the context of the
customary and traditional practices that continue to survive in the ‘private sphere’, which remained
untouched even during Soviet times. How has the symbiotic relationship between religion and polity
continued to shape their lives? And how has the value that men ascribe to women’s economic work
in general, and their social role in particular, affected their educational opportunities? The way
forward in improving girls’ access lies in developing interventions and policy recommendations that
are cognizant of the historical context, local customs, current status of women, the extent of their
power and the opportunities and constraints that they currently experience in the society.
Another study suggests that women and men, while sharing the same poverty indicators, emphasize
different aspects of poverty (Tajikistan gender survey, 2008). Women, children, people in rural
communities, and the urban poor face the gravest risk and suffer significantly lower employment
levels and wider income inequality. As a result, the indicators of general welfare, such as average life
expectancy, infant mortality, and overall standards of living have also worsened (OSI 2002).
Tajikistan faces another important challenge: its total fertility rate remains the highest in the region,
with an average of 3.68 live births per women (in 2000), a situation that is likely to continue into the
future. Young people under 25 years of age constitute three fifths of the population; the under-18
population is almost twice that of Russia and Ukraine (OSI 2002). How the youth, particularly girls,
will be educated today will determine the future of the country.

3. Existing practices
The importance that the Tajik government attaches to education can be seen in its National Strategy
for Education Development of the Republic of Tajikistan 2006-2015 (NSED), a comprehensive
strategic framework and plan for the entire education sector – the first sector to have such a strategic
plan in Tajikistan (World Bank 2005). The NSED shows a commitment by the country’s leadership to
education and a recognition of the challenges to the girls’ education. President Rahmon has declared
education to be the most important factor in “saving the nation and strengthening the statehood,”
stressing the need for ensuring gender parity at all levels of education. Simultaneously, the NSED
recognizes the need for provision of equitable access to basic education, and states an intention to
develop comprehensive programmes for access of girls from rural areas to primary, secondary and
professional education. It is also cognizant that the curricular content and the attitude of teachers
both need to be made gender sensitive (MOE 2005).
A World Bank appraisal (2005) has found the government’s education strategy to be comprehensive
but overly ambitious and ahead of the capacity of the Ministry of Education. The report argues for

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donors to focus on primary education and not on the gender gap that emerges after the primary
level. The reasons given for this are: considerable inefficiencies in the way the sector currently works,
to ensure effectiveness of the education services on account of equity and equality, and to focus
funding on the rebuilding and reforming of the education sector in general. A Donor Appraisal and
Endorsement Report (2006-2015) by the World Bank has also identified a financing gap of US$58
million over the next five years (2009-2014) for effective implementation of the education strategy.
Tajikistan has nevertheless taken a step forward by recognizing the gender equity issue. It has joined
all the international conventions for protecting women’s rights, adopted a National Plan of Action,
passed a decree on ‘Advancement of Women’ and one for ‘Providing Educational Quota for Poor
Women from Remote Rural Areas’. Despite facing financial and physical constraints, it has embarked
on several gender-parity education reforms. The state programme aims to establish quotas for entry
of women into higher education institutions, encourage girls’ education by introducing stipends
and other forms of financial assistance, and create learning centres for young women with non-
governmental financial assistance.
An important and crucial step taken by the Government of Tajikistan is the initiation of discussions on
gender issues through the mass media (UNICEF 2007b). Given the sociocultural constraints on girls’
education, this campaign is crucial for building awareness among the people and bringing women’s
issues from the private sphere into the public, resulting in a more positive recasting of women’s role
in the society. It is very important for the government to build on this effort and convey to the public
the social and private returns for educating girls.
To complement and strengthen the work of the Tajik government, international aid agencies, including
the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF and ADB have responded by initiating several programmes. USAID
has currently undertaken a major project on curriculum review and teacher training, and it is trying
an innovative scheme of renting textbooks for schools (OSI, 2002). The scheme is currently operating
only in selected regions, and the majority of the population have yet to benefit from it. ADB is in the
second phase of a school improvement project, at a cost of US$400,000 (Second Education Sector
Reform Project (2006)). This project aims to improve girls’ participation in secondary schools by
initiating a girls’ stipend programme. ADB is also conducting a gender analysis of the curriculum
(ADB, 2003a).
UNICEF has also taken initiative in building strong partnerships between the government and NGOs
in education. Child-friendly schools are being piloted to help address the issues of access and quality
in a planned and collaborative manner. It has also launched community development programmes
and initiated home-based approaches to preschool education in six selected areas. To attract girls
back to school, UNICEF is working in partnership with the Ministry of Education, NGOs and families
to pilot a life-skills-based education programme. This project is targeted at 50 selected schools where
girls’ attendance is low (Lozinsky 2006).
Many NGOs are playing an important role in supporting and improving the existing educational
system. Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is focusing on a teacher’s professional development
programme and a whole-school improvement programme. Save the Children, along with the Open
Society Institute, is also currently working to improve the quality of preschool and primary-school
education by providing in-service teacher training.
In light of the extremes of gender inequality in Tajikistan (UNESCO 2008), the current donor efforts
fall far short of the goal of bringing about gender parity. The attempt by donors to close the growing
gender gap in Tajikistan appears to be disjointed, weak and fragmented. The bilateral aid agencies
often take the lead and build on the interventions of the lending development banks, especially the

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World Bank. For Tajikistan, the World Bank (2005) has acknowledged gender equity and parity as
a crucial problem, but has argued for tackling general education issues, failing to propose policies
specifically aimed at reducing the gap in girls’ education; it cites the paucity of resources as a major
constraint. This allows the government to take the lead for ensuring gender-sensitive policies in all
future donor-led interventions.
The next section reviews the literature on girls’ education. This provides the theoretical framework
for why it is important to have girls’ education policies that work in the socio-economic context of
Tajikistan. The effects of gender-sensitive education policies are not only cross-cutting, but are the
only sustainable way to ensure that future generations of Tajiks – both men and women – are skilled
and educated. The only way to guarantee this is by educating girls today, ensuring that they will be
the mothers educating the Tajik nation tomorrow.

4. GOOD practices
Currently, three fifths of the Tajik population is under 25 years of age, with 1,660 thousand students in
grades 1-11 – of which 46.4% are girls. Utilization of this demographic bulge by the right investments
in girls’ education could be a substantial step forward in sustained economic growth for Tajikistan.
Sperling and Herz (2004) point out ‘substantial’ long term benefits of girls’ education not only to their
families, but also to the society at large. They have listed huge cross-cutting benefits of educating girls,
especially in increased income for both individuals and the nation as a whole. A recent World Bank
study of 100 countries shows that increasing the share of women who have a secondary education
by 1 per cent boosts annual per capita income by 0.3 per cent (Sperling and Herz 2004).
Sperling and Herz argue that there is a greater need for government intervention in educating girls
since parents do not perceive the benefits to the individual, family and country of providing this
education. Government leaders must highlight evidence about how increased female education is
one of the most powerful tools to empower women within the family and society. As the economist
Amartya Sen observes, “The changing agency of women is one of the major mediators of economic
and social change…Nothing, arguably, is as important today in the political economy of development
as an adequate recognition of political, economic and social participation and leadership of women”
(Sen, 2000).
Literature highlighting best practices from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Malawi, Bangladesh and Yemen
will be explored for evidence as to what works in girls’ education. The selected countries are quite
similar to Tajikistan, not only in their demographic composition, but also in their religious customs,
traditions and practices, and in sharing a somewhat analogous sociocultural context. Tajikistan has
already made a promising start by formulating a well thought-out National Strategy for Education
Development and has been successful in identifying the problem of access. These international best
practices can inform Tajikistan in designing both long-term and short-term interventions aimed at
addressing the goal of gender parity at all levels of education in Tajikistan.
Yemen and Pakistan. In order to meet the direct and indirect cost of girls’ education, Yemen and
Pakistan have initiated awareness-raising programmes, upgrading civil works and conditional cash
transfers in targeted areas to enhance the enrolment of girls. In Pakistan, the stipend programme,
which was launched in lower secondary school levels, targeted 15 low-literacy and poor rural districts
in Punjab province, leading to a 14 per cent increase in girls’ enrolment. This is in a country with 2.7
million boys and 4.1 million girls out of school. The stipend programme has now been extended to

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upper secondary school to prevent dropouts, and is also being replicated in Sindh province, which
suffers high gender and income disparity along with significant and deep rural poverty. However,
context is very important; although the ADB in Tajikistan has already taken the lead by initiating a
stipend programme, the pros and cons of the programme must be weighed carefully if it is to work
in Tajik society.
Bangladesh offers an interesting case for making linkages between education and labour markets.
The country implemented a range of educational reform policies, including increased spending,
stipends for girls’ secondary education, and recruitment of more female teachers to improve gender
access and parity. But research shows that one of the most critical drivers of change in Bangladesh
has been the income and empowerment effects associated with mass female employment in the
garment industry. Hence, it can be argued that change in education has been driven to a large degree
by initiatives outside education that have been critical in tackling the issue of gender equality and
poverty simultaneously (UNESCO 2008).
Balochistan Education Support Project in Pakistan has taken a two-pronged approach in addressing
the issue of girls’ participation. Firstly, schools have been built in far-flung rural areas in an effort to
deal with the mountainous terrain, harsh climate and relief that were translating into long walking
distances for girls. The community is involved in the supervision and management of the school
construction; the communities also identify, arrange and employ local teachers, oversee enrolment
and teacher attendance, and follow up to prevent dropouts. Secondly, Balochistan Education
Foundation, an autonomous institution in the province of Balochistan, has been created to engage
local NGOs as Private Implementing Partners (PIP) to promote access to low-fee quality private
primary education in semi-urban and urban areas. The PIPs establish new schools if (a) there are
at least 50 children ages 4–9 who are out of school, and (b) there is no government primary school
or any other school for girls within a radius of 1 km (World Bank 2007). The mechanics of involving
community can be explored by the Tajik government for enhancing access to secondary schools
in the mountainous rural areas, as evidence has shown that having secondary schools improves
student attendance.
Yemen increased the number of female teachers in an effort to raise girls’ participation. Under the
guidance of the World Bank, Yemen has addressed the high drop-out and repetition rates of girls by
linking teacher posts to schools. The intervention is effective in helping sustain the number of female
teachers, and has also made it mandatory that 15 per cent of the recruited teachers be female. The
Ministry of Education in Yemen has been given control of designing the female teacher recruitment
programme in order to ensure compliance in linking the teacher’s position to a specific school. The
World Bank in Pakistan has also ensured that schools in Punjab and Sindh provinces employ school-
specific female teachers not only for attracting girls, but also for curtailing teacher absenteeism
(World Bank 2008). With a trend of increasing employment among women, this step of school-
specific appointments may have a positive impact in retaining girls in schools.
Malawi offers a valuable model for Tajikistan. It has approached the problem of girls’ education
by attempting to change the expectations, attitudes and biases of communities and families. It
has designed interventions that affect the social traditions and cultural beliefs that, in the case of
Tajikistan, seem extremely entrenched and are the most limiting factors affecting girls’ educational
opportunities. Malawi revised the curricula both for secondary schools and for teacher education
in order to make them gender responsive and portray girls and women in more positive roles.
Furthermore, Malawi established a Gender Appropriate Curriculum Unit in its Ministry of Education,
reduced the cost of schooling by not requiring uniforms, and ensured easy access by requiring that

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schools be within a 5 km walking distance. These ideas may also work for Tajikistan (Maluwa-Banda
2004).
In neighbouring Afghanistan, Save the Children recognized the vital linkages between economic,
social, religious and cultural factors when it established a home-based girls’ school (HBGS) to resolve
the issue of girls’ access to schools. This approach was appropriate and powerful, as it acknowledged
religious and cultural barriers and designed an effective intervention to surmount them. Targeting
adolescent girls by providing them with a school close to their homes offered an element of security
and safety that reassured and satisfied parents. It simultaneously created employment opportunities
for women to work as teachers in their homes, and also built their skills. As a short-term relief
effort, the HBGS approach seems very practical for gender parity efforts, especially for post-conflict
countries such as Afghanistan and Tajikistan (Greer and Dowd 2001).
UNICEF has reported that the opportunity cost for girls’ education in Tajikistan is high, especially in
arable cotton picking areas. Considering the pervasive poverty in Tajikistan, a possible solution for
girls in these areas would be by adjusting the calendars of the secondary girls’ schools around the
cotton crop cycle. UNICEF notes that the school calendars were altered around girls’ chores at home
and on the farm in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mali and Malawi to minimize the loss of wages and work
that was valued by the family (World Bank, 2005).
India, like Bangladesh, experimented with many strategies and approaches to reducing the gender
gap. The list includes: schools within walking distance; residences for female teachers in rural areas;
establishing bridge programmes that enable dropouts to re-enter schools; flexible timing; childcare
in schools; decentralized educational planning; community schools run by NGOs; and hiring para-
educators in rural schools, among other initiatives. These measures have only worked when there
was “political will, administrative commitment and leadership.” Thus the message for Tajikistan is to
engage the support of political leaders, policymakers and administrators to take a proactive role to
get girls into schools (UNESCO 2000).
Tajikistan can take a number of short-term approaches – as taken by India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan –
that are suitable to its own context for increasing access to school and lowering the school drop-out
rates for girls. These case studies offer valuable guidance to Tajikistan as it works towards sustainable
and long-term solutions to promoting girls’ secondary education.

5. Recommendations and conclusions

As a country undergoing transition and experiencing severe poverty, long-term Tajik education policy
needs to focus on approaches that are or will eventually become embedded in the mainstream
education system (MOE, 2000). Policy also has another role: it must incrementally change the
mindsets of the policymakers at all levels, but especially at the local and district levels, pushing key
political leaders to publicly commit themselves to promoting girls education. Advocacy by these
opinion leaders about the wide-ranging positive impact of women’s education can help change the
attitudes of men in Tajikistan to being supportive of having educated girls and mothers (Sperling and
Herz 2004).
Drawing from interventions in Pakistan and Yemen, a conditional cash transfer programme may be
launched in districts and areas having low-enrolment and high drop-out rates. The subsidy should
be targeted at secondary schools, as most of the girls drop out after completing primary school
education. This should be accompanied by efforts to improve the quality of education by targeting

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school infrastructure and facilities, enhancing teacher quality, and recruiting school-specific female
teachers.
School calendars and timings can be adjusted around the cotton crop cycle, especially in the
mountainous areas, thereby decreasing the opportunity cost of going to school and providing the
girls an opportunity for both education and employment. In the cotton-picking regions, skill-building
related to the cotton industry can provide incentives for girls to attend schools.
The government needs to reconsider its school uniform policy with options for either providing
uniforms or disbursing a stipend to cover the cost, or completely scrapping the policy. This will
remove a crucial obstacle and cost and lead to improved self-esteem of girls, and hence increase
their school attendance. With lower education costs, families are more likely to send their girls to
school.
Working within the sociocultural and religious context of the country, adopting home-based girls’
schools, such as those pioneered in Afghanistan, could be successful in Tajikistan. Initially, women
in Baihutan (the free, local religious schools) can be recruited and trained as educators, with the
eventual possibility for scaling this up. Furthermore, technical vocational education, especially in
cotton-picking and mining areas, can be effective in creating employment, with a possibility for
generating a similar skill-based schooling in urban areas.
In Tajikistan, gender defines educational opportunity. Overcoming this requires effective and
committed government leadership. Though donors have initiated many programmes to tackle and
address the issue of girls’ education in Tajikistan, current donor initiatives remain disjointed and
fragmented, requiring harmonization and alignment to equalize opportunities for girls. In order
to improve all education sub-sectors, and especially girls’ education, the Tajik government should
consider moving towards sector-wide approaches (SWAPs). SWAPs are a financing mechanism to
support country-led social programming that is comprehensive, holistic and coordinated across
donors (World Bank 2007). Experience with SWAPs in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh indicates that they
are very effective in addressing equity and quality problem (UNESCO 2008).
Girls’ education is critically important for Tajikistan because it impacts a significant proportion of its
population. As a young country, Tajikistan is at a crucial juncture in developing its human capital.
Educating girls influences not only the future sociocultural fabric of the country, but also has high
economic returns and broad benefits. Girls’ education is unique in the way it impacts a broad range
of sectors; the role of girls as future mothers and nation builders is vital. Girls’ education carries the
potential for a long-term and sustained impact on all aspects of life in Tajikistan.

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