President calls for small educated families

Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov on Thursday urged the country's women to plan their families so they would produce fewer but better educated children. Rahmonov's plea came during a speech in the capital Dushanbe to mark International Women's Day, according to a Tajik radio report.

Rahmonov called on women to give their children an education and a profession. "Let them be few, but healthy, good, educated and patriotic." He stressed that Tajik society must become a highly educated one so that Tajiks acquired a worthy place among the more advanced countries. "We must achieve comprehensive education of children in every family, and create conditions for them to demonstrate their skills and study at the universities they want." He added that the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and other organisations should bear in mind that as many girls, particularly from mountainous areas, should be attracted into medical institutes and colleges.

Rahmonov said the government was making every effort to raise women's position in society and that many women with specialist expertise had been appointed to government posts. More must be done, he added, to train women and girls to develop expertise that would meet current international standards.