DUSHANBE, September 23, 2011, Asia-Plus — By September 1, 1,950 Tajik students have returned home from Islamic schools abroad, Idibek Ziyoev, the head of the education department within the Committee on religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“In all, 2,413 Tajik young people were studying at foreign madrasahs and Islamic universities,” Ziyoev said, noting that Tajik students that were officially sent to study religious schools abroad are continuing to study at foreign Islamic universities.
Of students that have returned home, 129 have entered local educational institutions. “67 of them are studying at secondary schools, 57 others are studying at local universities and eight students are studying at Tajik madrasahs,” Ziyoev noted.
“The former students that have failed to show documents certifying that they were really studying at Islamic schools abroad could not continue studying at local schools,” said Ziyoev. “However, many of them are currently working in religious organizations or went to Russia as labor migrants.”
Tajik young people were mostly studying at madrasahs and Islamic universities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Pakistan and Yemen.
We will recall that in August last year, President Emomali Rahmon warned that foreign religious schools are indoctrinating Tajik students with radical Islamist ideology, and he urged parents of students studying at foreign madrasahs to bring them home.
