Tajik Minister of Education and Science Mahmadyusuf Imomzoda met in Moscow with Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov at the beginning of this week to discuss cooperation issues, including construction of five Russian-language schools in Tajikistan.

In the course of the talks, Kravtsov noted that construction of five Russian-language schools is expected to begin in Tajikistan this summer, according to the Russian Education Ministry press center.

“The main preparatory work to start the construction of the schools has already been completed.  We, in particular, agreed on a standard design of the school building and the sites for construction of the schools in five cities of Tajikistan were finally approved,” the Russian minister said.

According to him, they expect to complete the construction of the schools and put them into commission in September 2022.  

Recall, Igor Burulko, First Secretary, Russian Embassy in Dushanbe, said at press conference in Dushanbe on December 24, 2020 the Russian Federation several days ago allocated funds for advance payment of the work of the general contractor, and sites for construction of schools have been determined.

The results of a tender for selecting general contractor (it will be a Russian company) and subcontractors (Tajik companies) will become known in February. 

A government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Russia on construction of five Russian-language schools in Tajikistan was signed in Moscow on April 17, 2019.

The agreement provides for phased construction of Russian-language schools in the mentioned cities and equipping of them.  Each of these schools will accommodate up to 1,200 pupils.

The construction of the schools will be financed by the Russian government.  Russia will provide six billion rubles for construction of these schools.  The schools will be built in the cities of Bokhtar, Dushanbe, Khujand, Kulob and Tursunzoda.

Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament on January 15, 2020 ratified an agreement with Russia on construction of five Russian-language schools in Tajikistan.

Recall, Russia at the start of the academic year 2018-2019 sent 30 teachers to secondary schools in Tajikistan.  Teachers from the Russian regions of Kostroma, Kemerovo, Bashkortostan, Dagestan, and Tatarstan arrived in Tajikistan to teach subjects such as mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, computer science, Russian, and others at secondary schools where teaching is conducted in Russian.

Russian teachers left Tajikistan this year because of the coronavirus crisis.

The education sector in Tajikistan has been in decline after collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and many Tajik nationals described the effort to bring over Russian teachers as a much-needed remedy.