DUSHANBE, January 9, 2013, Asia-Plus — Authorities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have rejected batches of textbooks earmarked for schools serving their Tajik minorities after they were printed with pictures of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Tajik national symbols, Radio Liberty reports.
Tajik media reports on January 8 said that the shipment of about 10,000 textbooks for Tajik schools in Kyrgyzstan was suspended at the request of the Kyrgyz authorities.
Tajik Deputy Education Minister Farhod Rahimov told journalists on January 7 that talks on reprinting the textbooks were being held with the Kazakh and Kyrgyz authorities. Kyrgyz parliament members confirmed that information to journalists in Bishkek on January 8.
According to Tajik media, the textbooks will be reprinted with pictures of the presidents of the country where they will appear.
Traditionally, secondary-school textbooks in post-Soviet Central Asia have texts of the national anthems, flags, and pictures of the presidents at the beginning. The tradition goes back to Soviet times when a portrait of Vladimir Lenin greeted the reader.
In recent years, a personality cult has been growing around Tajik President Rahmon, who is addressed as “Your Excellency” by government employees and portrayed by the state media as something akin to a monarch.
