DUSHANBE, April 17, Asia-Plus — A ceremony of an official opening of the second building of the orphanage Chorbogh, which is house for children with intellectual disabilities, was held in the Varzob district today morning.
Speaking at an inaugurating ceremony, President Emomali Rahmon noted that the government will take care of disabled children.
Reminding that 3,500 disable children currently study and undergo treatment at special boarding schools of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP), the president noted that some 2,300 of them are children with intellectual disabilities. “Over the past three years, the budget has annually provided 3,700 somonis, 4,400 somonis and 5,800 somonis respectively per one inmate in such facilities,” the president said.
In 2007 alone, the country’s budget allocated totaling 6.8 million somonis for keeping such facilities, which is 34 percent than in the previous year, Rahmon said. “Besides, 3.2 million somonis were allocated last year for a number of social facilities located in Vahdat, Baljuvon and Chorbogh,” the head of state noted.
He noted that the second building will be house for 100 children. He added that the third and the fourth buildings of the orphanage with boiler houses and other necessary facilities should be constructed within the next two years, and the government is allocating 8.5 million for this. “It will be the republican center for rehabilitation of children,” the president said, underlining the importance of assistance provided by the Government of Turkey in construction of the second building.
He also charged the MLSP to organize another republican rehabilitation center in Vahdat.
President Rahmon also called on parents of disabled children not to forget their children and charged the ministries of economy and education to organize training of teachers of disabled children at Tajik higher educational institutions.
On further tasks on social protection of the population, the president noted that it is necessary to work out a number of other laws regulating this sphere. “Two laws on social pensions and social assistance have to date been worked out and submitted for consideration to the government,” Rahmon said.
He also pointed to the necessity of organizing short-term training courses on various specialties in the country, because every year, more than 80,000 school leavers not in further education join the ranks of unemployed. “At present, only 30 percent of economically active population is engaged in production,” Rahmon said, noting that practically 80 percent of unemployed do not have specialties.
For his part, Turkish Ambassador to Tajikistan, Mr. Akif Aykhan, underlined the importance of cooperation between Turkey and Tajikistan both in bilateral and multilateral formats.
The two-storey building has been constructed by Turkey’s International Cooperation Agency (TICA) and the Government of Turkey has allocated $1.3 million for its construction, the MLSP source said. The building has 20 dormitories to accommodate totaling 100 children and is provided with new furniture and special equipment for children, according to him.
The first building of the orphanage was officially opened on September 5, 2006. 1 million somonis were provided from presidential reserve fund for constructing the first building, which is house for 100 children with intellectual disabilities.
According to the MLSP, 827,453 somonis have been provided from the national budget for keeping the orphanage. Of this amount, 29,695 somonis have been provided for treating the children and 61,695 somonis for clothes. Besides, 5.7 somonis are provided for daily food ration per inmate of the orphanage.
A resolution on construction of the Chorbogh orphanage was passed after the tragic orphanage fire in Dushanbe in January 2006. We will recall that the fire broke out in the Dushanbe orphanage on the night of January-7-8, 2006, killing 13 children and leaving another hospitalized with serious burns.
