DUSHANBE, August 30, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- More than 160,000 first-graders will attend school for the first time in the 2011-2012 school year, Noilsho Nouraliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education (MoE), told Asia-Plus today.

Nouraliyev noted that 161,132 first-graders went to school in Tajikistan last year.  In all, there are some 1.7 million school students in Tajikistan, he added. 

According to the data from the Ministry of Education, 3,747 schools now function in Tajikistan and 140 more new schools will open their doors for pupils on September 1, 2011.