KHOROG, December 8, 2009, Asia-Plus — We completely support president’s proposal to declare 2010 as “Year of Education in Tajikistan,” heads of the regional organizations of the Social-Democratic (SDPT) and Islamic Revival (IRPT) parties in Gorno Badakhshan announced at a meeting with reporters in Khorog on December 7.
“For our part, we offer to declare the next decade as “Decade of Education in Tajikistan,” they noted.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Alim Sherzamonov, the head of the SDPT organization in Gorno Badakhshan, and Sabzali Mamadrizoyev, the deputy head of the IRPT organization in the region, noted that a joint statement was well-grounded because the country’s education system has come down to the lowest level over the past decade.
According to them, one of the main reasons for poor state of the education system is excessively politicized system of management and education program of both high schools and universities. “Besides, countless numbers of various social and political campaigns that are held by the government practically every year, including subscription to state-run publications, also involve many teachers, students and pupils that impedes the education process,” said they, “Numerous posters and calls for moral and patriotic education of children hanging outside and inside schools are also excessively politicized.”
Sherzamonov and Mamadrizoyev stressed that election campaigns were also an illustrative example of that. “It is impossible to understand why schools are chosen as places for electoral commissions and polling stations,” they continued. “During several months of election campaign, school administrations and teachers are involved in work of electoral commissions and various posters calling voters to cast vote as well as pre-lection platforms and programs of political parties are being hanged in schools.”
All this distracts school administrations and teachers as well students from the education process, they said.
“Taking all this into consideration, we propose to declare the next decade as “Decade of Education in Tajikistan” in order to improve the education management system in the country,” said Sherzamonov and Mamadrizoyev, “Besides, for the purpose of protecting honor, rights and duties of teachers and employees of the education sector as a whole, we propose to announce the education system to be out of politics and not to involve education workers in carrying out political campaigns, including work in electoral commissions and polling stations, and set up electoral districts and polling stations at recreation centers, clubs and other public buildings as it had been before.”
