In his speech on the Day of Knowledge, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon once again drew attention to primary vocational education. The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan has set a goal to train about 1 million citizens of the country in various specialties by 2027.

Everyone should have a profession

As the head of state noted in his speech, currently there are more than 570 thousand people in the country only young people aged 18 to 30 who do not have a profession, craft or specialty.

There are 65 institutions of primary vocational education in the country, which train specialists in 14 areas and 135 specialties, covering more than 18 thousand students for various sectors of the country's economy. Also, 46 thousand people are trained in 78 types of professions and crafts in 39 adult vocational training centers under the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment.

“This number is very small, since hundreds of thousands of people can study in these institutions,” - said Emomali Rahmon.

According to the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of Tajikistan, in order to attract Tajiks who do not have professions, a “Vocational training program for citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2021-2025” has been developed, which is supposed to involve more than one million citizens in training over five years. The total amount of funding for the program is more than 149 million somoni.

There is work, but there are no specialists

There is a shortage of specialists in Tajikistan, so many jobs are empty, and applicants cannot get a job due to a lack of qualifications.

Last year, at the job fair in Dushanbe, organized by the Ministry of Labor, OJSC “Rogun HPP” presented about 3 thousand jobs to applicants. In addition, the recruitment was announced by such enterprises as OJSC “Tajikhydroelectromontazh”, CJSC “Tunnel Saddi Oriyono”, OJSC “Opytnyi Mechanicheskii Zavod”.

It is not uncommon for employers to look for programmers, cooks, financiers, builders and other professionals with decent salaries. According to experts, the reason is that most Tajik youth do not have the appropriate specialization.

The discrepancy between the qualification level of personnel and the requirements of the modern market is a widespread problem in Tajikistan. Therefore, a vocational training program was adopted, which should solve it.

In addition, personnel training is conducted with an eye to employ its citizens to work abroad, where qualified workers are required. Currently, foreign companies are applying to the Ministry of Labor of the Republic of Tajikistan, which do not need laborers without professions, but middle-level specialists with appropriate skills.

Top relevant professions

The program has identified the top 25 specialties in demand in the domestic and foreign labor market.

According to the number of planned graduates, the specialty “Accounting, analysis and audit” takes the first place. By 2027, about 6.4 thousand people will be trained in this profession.

The top five also include the specialties of a programmer (more than 3 thousand people), an electrical equipment installer (about 3 thousand), an industrial power supply specialist (2.2 thousand) and a budget accounting financier (2.2 thousand).

The second five in terms of demand included specialists in the operation of construction and road construction machinery and equipment; maintenance and repair of internal combustion engines; organization of transportation and management of motor vehicles; in the field of industrial and civil construction, maintenance of power plants.

One million jobs

Along with vocational training, it is necessary to create jobs so that graduates of professional lyceums and colleges can have jobs.

The government intends to solve this problem through the State Employment Assistance Program for 2023-2027.

According to the forecast of socio-economic indicators of the regions of Tajikistan, it is envisaged that during 2023-2027, more than 1.2 million new jobs will be created in the sectors of the country's economy as a whole, including 748 thousand new jobs in the real sector of the economy (59.6%) and more than 506 thousand jobs in the service sector (40.4%).

It is assumed that during 2023-2027, 1.4 million people from among graduates of universities and secondary educational institutions, as well as dismissed military personnel from the Armed Forces, reduced employees of enterprises and those released from correctional institutions of execution of sentences, will enter the labor market.

Almost half of them – 710 thousand – will be employed with the assistance of labor and employment agencies.

More than 355 thousand people will be employed in enterprises and organizations. 294 thousand people will be employed due to vacant jobs, 44 thousand due to quota jobs, and 17 thousand more through the allocation of preferential loans.

Along with this, 108 thousand unemployed citizens will be covered by vocational training, 38 thousand will be involved in paid public works, 138 thousand will provide vocational guidance services and 69 thousand unemployed will receive unemployment benefits.

The state hopes that the majority of jobs will be created by entrepreneurs and the population themselves.