CONCLUSIONS
A
series of conclusions have been drawn from the research, and they have been used
as a basis for the formulation of
recommendations.
1.
Dilapidated schools and the frustration of teachers. In addition to the
dilapidated school buildings, the lack of sanitation and hygiene and the
shortage of adequate educational materials and teaching tools, the core problem
is the frustration the teachers feel as a result of their depreciated social
position and their poor standard of living. An important effort should be made
to improve the social and economic standing of teachers.
2.
The relevance of the gender issue and gender training. The focus group
discussions conducted with the directors, teachers and pupils (girls and boys)
in the four schools selected for the survey highlighted the relevance of the
gender issue in the decisions of parents to accept or impose a halt in the
education of their daughters. They also demonstrated the significant presence of
gender stereotyping among adolescent girls and boys who were still in school or
who had dropped out of school. The discussions indicated that more study must be
undertaken on gender relations in the context of education. The school, the
family and the community must be the main targets, but society as a whole needs
to become more aware of the negative implications of many widely accepted
behaviours and traditional practices that are particularly unequal in terms of
gender. There is a huge need for gender training among all actors in education:
teachers, pupils, drop-outs, parents, and community and religious leaders. The
tools that teachers and trainers will need to promote gender equality in
education must be provided.
3.
An awareness campaign. Most parents did not feel their daughters had to stay on
in school, but they wanted their sons to reach higher education. Thus, it seems
necessary to launch an information campaign to convince parents that girls
should also be able to continue on in school and enter higher education if they
so wish. Such a campaign should be accompanied by training seminars or workshops
at the community level, particularly in poor districts where the number of girl
drop-outs is high.
4.
Help young girls break out of their isolation. Isolation in the household and
confinement in the restrictive social environment of families and a few
neighbours are particularly damaging for the development of personality and
intellect among children and adolescents. Girls caught in this situation should
be assisted in gaining more information about society at large. Outings to
theatres or concerts, meetings to play games with girls from other districts and
other activities with a cultural or educational dimension might be
organized.
5.
Alternative paths to education. The survey showed that many girls were taking
lessons given by a bihatun. These girls were following language and religious
literature classes and were also learning sewing and embroidery. Social actors
in education should not ignore this alternative, private path to schooling. It
should be examined and evaluated as a possible route to or model for
diversification in education and the development for girls of vocational or
professional training, as well as broader, more practical general knowledge. The
knowledge and skills of community members could be tapped to offer training to
teenagers. The existence of alternative, locally based schools could help
mobilize communities in favour of better education for girls. Such community
linkages could represent a new path towards the social integration of girls.
Absence from school need not mean absence from education.
6.
School equivalency and job training. The survey found that almost all the girls
who had stopped going to school at an early age liked school and wanted to go
back. One of the actions that could therefore be envisaged would be to accept
them at school within the framework of an alternative programme specifically
tailored for girls who are too old for the grades corresponding to their level.
Most of the girls expressed the desire to prepare for a job. Local schools could
thus also provide vocational training adapted to the wishes of the girls and the
job market. This might attract some of the girls who have left school, as well
as help retain girls who are now in school, but who are thinking about
leaving.
7.
Adapting compulsory education. The economic difficulties of the population and
the lack of a meaningful link between the job market and the courses taught in
schools should be addressed. Not all pupils wish to undertake university
studies, and many want to start working as soon as possible. A strategy of
action can be developed in cooperation with the departments of education,
health, and social protection and employment, with professional organizations
and with NGOs in order to promote a new, additional type of school education
based on fresh methods and subjects that are useful for the learning of a trade.
Compulsory education can be adapted along two axes in order to respond to the
urgent needs of the population during this difficult
phase of the transition. One axis would involve the supply of extra resources, capacity and equipment to schools so they can be used to carry out additional, special programmes that are targeted at adolescents who do not wish to continue courses included in the general curriculum. The other axis would focus on vocational training that reflects a balance between the demands of adolescents and the demands of the regional and national job markets in foreign languages, small business administration and management, marketing and communication, various crafts and so on. This solution presents the advantage of helping to draw girls, who are more likely to stop attending school, from isolation within the domestic space and from early marriages. It would maintain the integration of girls in school and in the social life of other children or teenagers of their age, while allowing them to receive education and professional training.
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. The Reevaluation and Protection of Teachers and
Schools
1.
Establish an efficient administrative mechanism for more effective communication
and coordination among schools, local authorities and communities for the school
registration of all school-age children.
2.
In consultation with the Ministry of Education and donor agencies, provide
uniforms to schools, at least in the most vulnerable areas, in order to reduce
the tensions among children over issues of clothing. There should be no cost for
the uniforms of the children in the poorest families. Children should be
consulted about uniform design and colour.
3.
Through the media and other public forums, improve the image of
teachers.
4.
Support teachers through non-monetary benefits for them or their families, such
as free public services (gas, electricity, health care) and access to subsidized
housing in urban areas or farmland in rural areas. (This could be accomplished
within the framework of land reform.)
5.
Supply training for primary school teachers in more than one or two subjects;
reorganize classes with more pupils per class, and reduce the number of teachers
so that the education system can provide teachers with more income and better
working conditions.
6.
Create a national programme for the provision of training in order to update the
knowledge and teaching methods of teachers and provide them with the working
tools necessary to implement an interactive, participatory approach in the
classroom.
7.
Establish an intensive training programme involving a system of university
grants so as to attract young people into teaching, particularly in subject
areas in which the lack of teachers is the most
significant.
8.
Augment school budgets in poor areas in order to create better physical
conditions, health care and sanitation in schools through a special temporary
tax on the activities and enterprises that generate considerable profits and on
wealthier individuals so as to support the rebuilding of the education sector.
This effort could also involve the use of the media and other public forums to
increase the sense of responsibility of the public and to attract local donors.
Private sector actors who participate in this national campaign could receive
tax benefits and other public assistance in their business
activities.
B. Awareness-Raising among Com-munities and throughout
Society
1.
With the help of community leaders and local authorities, mobilize districts in
favour of the education of girls and carry out seminars and other
awareness-raising activities among families in the locations where school
drop-out rates are high. These activities should focus on helping parents to
understand the nature of the transition and the multidimensional role of
education. The activities must involve the active participation of communities.
The main goal is to assist adults in understanding and developing a sense of
responsibility towards schools so that adults will alter their approach and,
gradually, their attitudes towards their children’s
education.
2.
Identify an appropriate group of motivated press, radio and television
journalists and provide them with background and regular information on the
sociocultural problems at stake in the education of girls in Tajikistan.
Negotiate with the state media to obtain air time on relevant themes,
information-sharing and debates on the education of girls.
3.
Organize periodic workshops with adolescents, parents and local community actors
in order to identify the areas of alternative or vocational training that are
needed and thereby facilitate the social and professional integration of
adolescents.
4.
Community groups, especially religious networks, should be encouraged to take
part directly in advocacy for the education of girls. The constitution of
networks among community and religious leaders for such education should be
promoted. Building on participants in relevant training programmes, an
appropriate training initiative should be provided for religious leaders.
Mullahs and the bihatun will have to be drawn out of their isolation within
traditional spaces of communication, such as mosques and the religious
community, and given access to new forums, including the media and cultural and
vocational activities in schools. It is essential to gain the support of the
Government and concerned public officials in this effort.
C. Drawing Girls out of Isolation
1.
Begin to open up the prospects and the scope for interactions among pupils by
promoting fresh environments where youngsters can meet. Young girls who have
dropped out of school should be at the centre of such a project. Small groups of
girls could be specially selected from poorer districts. They would be
familiarized with the project and then would be sent around to participate in
activities outside their districts and in other regions of Tajikistan. Cultural
and leisure activities could be interspersed with training activities and
discussion groups on gender equality, the rights of children and other themes of
interest to the young people.
2.
To open up young minds to the outside world, one must start with the immediate
community. However, it is also important to expand this effort to include, as
far as possible, contacts with young people of other cultures and countries. One
might envisage study trips to neighbouring countries that have chosen different
models for the education of girls. This would include countries outside the
former Soviet Union, such as Iran and Turkey, which are obvious choices on the
basis of geographical and cultural ties.
D. Alternative Education for Girls who Drop out of School or Risk Doing
so
1.
Survey adolescents and evaluate their needs in terms of vocational training. The
survey population should include young people, notably girls, who have already
been excluded from school, children with disabilities and the
vulnerable.
2.
With the help of teachers, researchers, public officials, economic actors, other
national experts, community volunteers and groups of children, design an
alternative educational system centred on the cultural and professional
aspirations of pupils. This alternative system must be flexible enough to be
adapted to specific contexts, but it must also be appropriate to existing
educational structures. It might even involve a mobile component that could be
used to respond to special needs within particular
communities.
3.
Maintain flexible links between alternative initiatives in education and the
formal education system so that neither type of institution can become
exclusive. Adapt the structure of the schools so that they can include
alternative components and, likewise, establish flexible curricula and teacher
agendas so as to allow pupils who are following alternative pathways to attend
classes in the formal system and obtain credit for these classes in alternative
or vocational courses of study.
E. Support Poor Families
1.
In collaboration with teachers, carry out a survey to determine the number of
girls who have left school before the age of 16 and identify the specific
difficulties of their families. As such a survey cannot be expected to cover the
entire country, it would focus on deprived areas and areas which exhibit the
highest drop-out rates. The results should be used in the development of
community strategies to lower drop-out rates, especially among
girls.
2.
With the assistance of local authorities, the Government, NGOs and international
organizations, locate appropriate material, financial and technical resources
for the implementation of long-term development projects to ensure the economic
survival of vulnerable families and enhance their well-being. Encourage the
families to create or join associations so that they can work together to
establish small agricultural, industrial, or handicraft businesses in poor areas
that can also employ young people who have completed alternative education and
vocational training programmes.
3.
Implement a programme to support vulnerable families that is adapted to each
community. The programme should target extremely poor, unemployed, or
single-parent families, the families of disabled children, and orphans. It
should provide active financial support, but also counselling and social
guidance.
F. Human Rights, Gender Issues and Violence against Children and
Women
1.
Constitute a group of national and regional experts, including social activists,
lawyers, judges and members of parliament, to examine laws dealing with
education in order to ascertain how they might be amended or otherwise revised
so as to encompass a gender perspective and address, for example, violence
against children and women. If necessary, proposals and recommendations for
changes or amendments to the laws should be debated publicly before being
submitted in Parliament or to the Government.
Special
attention should be paid to laws on the minimum age of marriage (lowered since
independence), forced marriage, early marriage, child labour and violence
against children.
2.
Develop a gender and human rights education programme to help make pupils,
parents and teachers more aware about the symptoms and effects of discriminatory
practices in education, particularly the education of girls, and provide them
with the tools they require to change their attitudes and their behaviour. The
programme might involve sessions among small groups, role playing,
information-sharing, roundtable discussions and debates on the socialization of
girls (and boys) in primary, lower secondary and secondary schools and on the
attitudes of boys and men towards girls and women. The vile consequences of
gender discrimination should be analysed in a gender and human rights
perspective and from the point of view of the national social, political and
economic development process. The vicious circle that leads, generation after
generation, to the reproduction of inequality between girls and boys should be
highlighted.
3.
Revise school textbooks at all levels of the education system from a gender
perspective so as to introduce a focus on gender equality. The focus should be
supported by texts drawn from the country’s literary and historical heritage, as
well as from modern sources. The educational material on gender issues should be
playful for children and attractive for teenagers. It should likewise be
sensitive to the cultural and ethnic diversity of the country. The related
teaching would be more effective if it could be accompanied within the school by
group activities such as art, musical and theatrical projects that promote the
values of equality and cooperation between girls and boys. These projects should
take into consideration the ages, economic backgrounds and urban or rural
sociocultural environments of the pupils.
4.
The development of education that is gender sensitive is a delicate process.
This process should be conducted in collaboration with experts under the
supervision of the Government (the Ministries of Education, Health and Culture)
gradually and thoughtfully. One might start with a small number of schools
selected because they reflect the range of sociocultural diversity in the
country. Before attempting an expansion of the initiative, evaluations should be
carried out to test the effectiveness of the relevant teacher training, the
educational impacts among the pupils and the changes in awareness among
families.
5.
Design and implement a regional gender-sensitive education programme with the
support of the deputy prime minister and relevant Government experts in the
departments of education, health, social protection and employment, and industry
and commerce. The programme would be carried out in schools and community
centres and through local and regional media outlets.
G. Better Coordination
1.
As a follow-up on the findings of the Qualitative Survey on Issues in Girls
Education, fresh initiatives should be undertaken to answer crucial questions
that arise. The impact of these initiatives would be much more significant if
they were to be coordinated and articulated within a coherent, planned approach
based on a common strategy.
2.
UNICEF should communicate to other international organizations the conclusions
of the survey and take the lead in the coordination of programmes on gender and
education. Strategic reflection groups and training seminars should be organized
so that project managers can acquire a better understanding of the linkages
among gender, socialization and the education of girls in Tajikistan. Additional
seminars in the Tajik and Russian languages could be offered to help train
project managers of national NGOs, particularly in appropriate theoretical and
methodological approaches to issues in gender and
education.
3.
The various projects focused on gender and education should be coordinated, and
cooperation should be organized among the agencies involved, including the
United Nations, NGOs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Social Protection and Labour in order to
facilitate
the exchange of data and information and prepare a common strategy for
action.