Tajikistan's transition to a 12-year education system has revealed a significant challenge: the country’s schools are lacking approximately 180,000 student places. Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Ravshan Karimzoda, highlighted the shortage as one of the main issues with this shift. According to him, there are around 250,000 six-year-old children in the country, but schools can currently accommodate only about 66,000 students of that age.

Preliminary calculations suggest that, with the full implementation of the 12-year system, 184,640 children may face a shortage of places. This represents 73.7% of all six-year-olds, while the schools in the country are only able to accommodate about 26% of them.

Karimzoda made these comments during a roundtable discussion held on February 26, organized by the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Science, Education, Culture, and Youth Policy. The topic of the meeting was “The Importance of Transitioning to a 12-Year Education System: Aligning with Global Standards.”

A complex system with greater opportunities

In addition to the issue of student places, Karimzoda pointed out the need to prepare more teachers, strengthen teacher retraining programs, provide students with textbooks, revise educational standards, develop new curricula, and create additional classrooms. All of this requires a gradual transition that includes strengthening infrastructure, staffing, and financial support.

Deputy Chair of the Majlisi Namoyandagon, Ms. Mavsouma Muini, emphasized that the transition to a 12-year system is necessary to align the education system with global standards, start education at age six, and reduce the workload on both students and teachers. She noted that in 1992, based on a declaration from the Council of Europe, around 150 countries supported the transition to a 12-year education system, and now this system is in place in more than 180 countries.

The Chair of the Majlisi Namoyandagon Committee on Science, Education, and Culture, Ms. Barno Saidvalizoda, added that the new system would offer more opportunities for those who wish to continue their education abroad. "Today, many of our citizens who go abroad for studies continue their education in the 12th grade," she said. According to her, in 32 countries, education starts at age 5, in 129 countries at age 6, and in 23 countries at age 7. Additionally, 25 countries have a 13-year education system starting at age six.

A reform discussed for over a decade

Last year, the Education Development Institute at the "Asia-Plus" Academy of Education reported that the Ministry of Education and Science plans to fully transition to the 12-year education system by the 2029-2030 academic year. Under this plan, enrollment in the first grade will begin at age six, and compulsory education will last until the 10th grade.

Initially, the experimental phase of the transition was scheduled to begin in the 2023-2024 academic year, but the project was delayed due to a number of issues. The exact nature of these problems has not been disclosed.

The need for a 12-year education system was raised by Tajikistan’s President, Emomali Rahmon, in his addresses to parliament in 2009 and 2011. Later, in his 2015 address, he stated that schools must be equipped with teachers before transitioning to the new system.

In 2017, the then-Minister of Education, Nouriddin Said, announced that Tajikistan's schools would begin the shift to the 12-year system starting in 2020, and the process would be gradual. A year ago, Deputy Minister of Education Ziyodullo Abdulzoda stated in an interview with Omuzgor weekly that school education in Tajikistan would become 12 years by 2030.