Turkmen Students Flee Abroad

Educational reforms introduced by Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov are forcing students seeking a university degree to go abroad.



Far from home, students from Turkmenistan face numerous difficulties but most agree that studying in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus or Kazakstan is still far better than staying at home.



“I don’t regret receiving my education here,” said Alisher who graduated from a university in the Belarussian capital Minsk two years ago and now works for a Russian company. “Thanks to that, I have a good job, and I can help my parents who live in Turkmenistan.”



Restrictive measures on access to higher education have made getting a decent university education in Turkmenistan almost impossible. In 2003, President Saparmurat Niazov signed a decree saying that school leavers must do two years’ work experience before they can attend university.



With jobs hard to come by even for skilled workers, this restriction alone has helped cut the number of students enrolling in Turkmen universities to 3,000-3,500 per year, compared with 30,000-35,000 in the past. That’s a tiny fraction of the around 150,000 young people who graduated from secondary school this year.



Studying in Turkmenistan is costly. The starting rate for bribes to enrol at an average university is 3,000 US dollars, rising to 15,000 dollars for more prestigious faculties. And if students do manage to register, there are still more bribes to pay – this time to the poorly-paid lecturers running the exams.



Aina, a Turkmen studying in Russia, explained: “After graduating from school, I wanted to enrol in the Makhtumkuli Turkmen State University. But my parents were told that they would have to pay 6,000 dollars. Instead of paying this sum, my parents decided to send me to Russia.”



Getting an education is especially difficult for ethnic minorities. Most subjects at universities are now taught in the Turkmen language, forcing ethnic Russians and other groups like Tatars and Armenians who use Russian as their lingua franca to go abroad.



“I studied at a Russian-language school, and I also spoke Russian at home,” says Ruslan, a second-year student at a Moscow university. “I can’t imagine studying in Turkmen, as I can barely speak it.”



The reforms also reduced the quality of education by cutting teaching courses to two years from four or five years previously. Two more years are spent working in the student’s chosen profession.



“Not only does my daughter spend days attending useless concerts and subbotniks [voluntary work days], but the theoretical element has been reduced to two years,” said Mehrijemal, the mother of a student at the Azadi Institute of World Languages.



Jeiran, who attends an Ashgabat university, complains she is forced to spend much of her time studying the Ruhnama, the “Book of the Spirit” which was penned by the president himself and forms the basis of the country’s official ideology.



“We studied the Ruhnama in enough detail at school, and now we are forced to study at here as well,” said Jeiran. “To be quite honest, we’ve been studying the same thing for several years now.”



Male students are particularly keen on studying abroad because it releases them – temporarily at least – from compulsory army service and the harsh life of a Turkmen soldier.



“The exam period will soon be over, but I’m not going home,” said Bairam, in his third year at a university in St Petersburg. “I’m afraid that I will be forced to serve in the army.”



Like Bairam, many who go abroad have no plans to return as unemployment is so high in Turkmenistan, and many recent graduates there cannot find work. Also complicating the return home is the fact that most foreign degrees are not valid in Turkmenistan.



Berdymurat, a fourth-year student in Samara, plans to stay on and eventually apply for Russian citizenship. “Many of my friends also plan to live and work here, because there are no jobs in Turkmenistan,” said Berdymurat.



Arzuv, 25, went to Turkey to study, and will not be returning home because she has got married. “Initially my parents were opposed to my marriage, especially as international marriages are frowned upon there [in Turkmenistan]. But after a while they agreed. Now I have a job, education and a loving husband.”



A former history lecturer at a Turkmen university who now lives in Russia predicts dire consequences if the country’s educational policy continues along the current path. “Turkmenistan can expect an entire generation of uneducated people, which will lead to economic and social crises.”



(Names of interviewees have been changed or withheld for reasons of security.)