DUSHANBE, May 24, Asia-Plus – According to the results of the census conducted in Tajikistan in 2000, only 30.3 percent of other nationalities living in Tajikistan has command of Tajik language, Ms. Tatiana Bozrikova, director of the “Panorama” Public Association, remarked in Dushanbe today, presenting the survey entitled “Analysis of the Problems with Teaching the Tajik Language in Non-Tajik Schools in Tajikistan.”
The survey’s results show that of ethnic Russians living in Tajikistan, only 11.9 percent speak fluent Tajik, ethnic Uzbeks – 30.1 percent, and ethnic Tajiks studying at Russian-language – 45.1 percent.
Of those polled, 74.9 percent consider that the best method for learning language is contacting with neighbors, and only 31.9 percent of the surveyed consider that the best method of learning the Tajik language is teaching the Tajik language at schools.
During the presentation ceremony it was also noted there were no enough skilled teachers of the Tajik language and textbooks on this subject in schools.
The “Panorama” Public Association conducted the survey in February-March 2006 on an initiative of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF) for further workout of textbooks on the Tajik language for Russian-language schools in Tajikistan. Under the survey 16 interviews with specialists in teaching the Tajik languages were conducted and 695 schoolchildren were polled in 11 schools in the cities of Dushanbe, Qurghon Teppa, Khujand, Chkalovsk and the district of Spitamen.
