World Bank approves US $20 million for education

The World Bank (WB) has approved US $20 million for an "Education Modernization Project" to be carried out in Tajikistan in collaboration with the country's Ministry of Education. "The education system in Tajikistan has been in decline due to war and economic collapse for over 10 years. This has affected the quality of education in most areas, but particularly in rural areas and for the urban poor," the project manager for the World Bank (WB), Eluned Schweitzer, told IRIN from Moscow on Wednesday. Tajikistan inherited a quality education system during the Soviet era, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union, coupled with civil war from 1992 to 1997, the system crumbled and will take years to rebuild, experts say. The education system has suffered greatly from lack of resources, and many skilled teaching staff have left or are not entering the profession due to poor wages and conditions. Most of the schools were looted and qualified teachers fled abroad. Eight years of education was compulsory in Soviet Tajikistan, and this requirement was expanded to nine years in the newly independent republic. There is now a 14-percent drop-out rate, according to a study carried out in 2001 by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The World Bank said it was very difficult to ascertain the exact number of children attending schools at the moment, although efforts were continuing to collect data to verify the existing information, as not all births were registered in the country. According to the government, 99 percent of the education system had suffered since the fall of the Soviet Union. However, the authorities still claim 98 percent of the population are literate, which aid workers say is simply not feasible. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) put the average enrolment for all levels of education (ages six to 23) at 62.1 percent in 2002. "Apart from Afghanistan, which has just emerged from conflict, the situation is deteriorating faster in Tajikistan because it is the poorer of the Central Asian states and because of the effects of the war on the school infrastructure," Schweitzer said. Aid agencies have welcomed the new project saying that school enrolment was decreasing due to poverty. "Many families are not able to send their children to school even though education is compulsory, because there are informal fees such as payments for uniforms and materials," UNICEF representative for Tajikistan, Yukie Mokuo, told IRIN from the capital, Dushanbe. The high number of absentees and drop-outs is also fuelled by the fact that there is often no heating in schools in remote mountainous parts of the country. Mokuo explained that the infrastructure was very much damaged, but in 2002 the country was only able to spend 2.4 percent of its budget on education, which was not enough to improve education levels. Access to education for boys and girls is fairly equal at the lower grades. However, it is worsening for girls above Grade 9, while boys from poor families are starting to drop out of school at early ages in order to support themselves or their families, according to UNICEF. "As in other countries, if a family has many children and is poor, it is often the boys who take precedence when it comes to education," Schweitzer said. "However, this is not always the case and evidence is that it is poverty, rather than an unwillingness for girls to be educated, that is causing the gender imbalance." The World Bank project aims to help set the stage for change at the national level through improving textbooks and curricula and reviewing financing options. The total amount of US $20 million includes a grant of US $7 million. The rest will be a soft loan from the International Development Association (IDA) repayable in 40 years, including a 10-year grace period, with a service charge of 0.75 percent. The project will seek to improve the school environment through infrastructure rehabilitation and the purchase of equipment and books, and build capacity at the local level. It covers seven districts - Faizabad, Khofarnighon, Rogun, Darband, Kulyab, Vose and an area in Dushanbe. "The Education Ministry realises its own strengths and weaknesses and is asking for support to improve the system. This is a sign of strength," Schweitzer remarked. "However it is certainly true that for all former Soviet countries more experience is needed in policy and decision making as responsibility for these activities was previously made elsewhere. With good donor collaboration and continued support over the coming years, I am sure these skills will be reinforced." The Republic of Tajikistan joined the World Bank in 1993. Since then, it has received loans and grants totalling US $324 million from the financial institution.