University Entrance Numbers to Fall
Education reforms instituted by Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov are preventing thousands of school leavers from going on to higher education. The selection of new entrants to colleges and universities will shortly get under way, and education official
University Entrance Numbers to Fall
Education reforms instituted by Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov are preventing thousands of school leavers from going on to higher education. The selection of new entrants to colleges and universities will shortly get under way, and education official
When education reform got under way back in May 1993, the Bilim (“education”) programme swept away many features of the Soviet system: schooling was cut from ten to nine years, and the number of schools using the Russian, Uzbek and Kazak minority languages as the teaching medium was slashed. Now Russian children can study in their own language only in special classes, and each province only has five or six such classes on offer. In addition, only children who have a residence permit for Russia can attend.
The reform also reduced the quality of higher education in Turkmenistan, by cutting courses from four or five years to just two, with another two years to be spent working in the student’s chosen profession.
These changes have had a hostile response from the public. Many people are unhappy that children are being deprived of opportunities to study abroad because the new school-leaving certificate is not valid for this.
There have been more unpleasant surprises. In June 2003, the president signed a decree saying that before school-leavers can go on to higher education, they must first do two years’ work experience. Thus, if someone wants to enrol in the police academy, they must first work for two years in the law-enforcement agencies.
A staff member of Mary province’s education department, Kurban Nuryev, predicts that this year, the number of entrants will fall threefold. Nuryev says it is extremely difficult to find a job in these times of near-total unemployment, and even highly-skilled specialists with a higher education and a respectable professional track record are unable to find work, let alone school-leavers. Occasionally, of course, children find work through their parents’ connections. But by the time they have worked for two years, young people have lost all desire to study.
Aina Meredova, a school-leaver in Ashgabat, believes the policy is sound and well thought-out. After working for two years as a hospital orderly, she had seen the profession from the inside and was in a position to decide whether to enrol in a medical institute. She said it would be interesting to study theory after acquiring so much practical knowledge and skills.
Most local and international experts believe the current education system is in need of a major overhaul, to introduce new school and higher-education curricula that meet international standards and ensure that the interests of ethnic minorities are taken into account.
School-leavers themselves say that they have been backed into a corner: they can neither get an education in their own country or abroad, nor can they find jobs. Aman, who left school last year, said that initially he planned to study in another former Soviet country, and was prepared to take additional courses for a year, as Turkmenistan’s nine-year school education meant he did not qualify for university.
However, he worried that when he came back after several years spent studying abroad, he would still be unable to find a job here, as foreign degrees are not recognised in Turkmenistan. Aman says that he and his peers are in a dead-end situation, unable to get an education or a job, and this leaves them feeling like useless and unnecessary members of society.
The reform also reduced the quality of higher education in Turkmenistan, by cutting courses from four or five years to just two, with another two years to be spent working in the student’s chosen profession.
These changes have had a hostile response from the public. Many people are unhappy that children are being deprived of opportunities to study abroad because the new school-leaving certificate is not valid for this.
There have been more unpleasant surprises. In June 2003, the president signed a decree saying that before school-leavers can go on to higher education, they must first do two years’ work experience. Thus, if someone wants to enrol in the police academy, they must first work for two years in the law-enforcement agencies.
A staff member of Mary province’s education department, Kurban Nuryev, predicts that this year, the number of entrants will fall threefold. Nuryev says it is extremely difficult to find a job in these times of near-total unemployment, and even highly-skilled specialists with a higher education and a respectable professional track record are unable to find work, let alone school-leavers. Occasionally, of course, children find work through their parents’ connections. But by the time they have worked for two years, young people have lost all desire to study.
Aina Meredova, a school-leaver in Ashgabat, believes the policy is sound and well thought-out. After working for two years as a hospital orderly, she had seen the profession from the inside and was in a position to decide whether to enrol in a medical institute. She said it would be interesting to study theory after acquiring so much practical knowledge and skills.
Most local and international experts believe the current education system is in need of a major overhaul, to introduce new school and higher-education curricula that meet international standards and ensure that the interests of ethnic minorities are taken into account.
School-leavers themselves say that they have been backed into a corner: they can neither get an education in their own country or abroad, nor can they find jobs. Aman, who left school last year, said that initially he planned to study in another former Soviet country, and was prepared to take additional courses for a year, as Turkmenistan’s nine-year school education meant he did not qualify for university.
However, he worried that when he came back after several years spent studying abroad, he would still be unable to find a job here, as foreign degrees are not recognised in Turkmenistan. Aman says that he and his peers are in a dead-end situation, unable to get an education or a job, and this leaves them feeling like useless and unnecessary members of society.
