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Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Tajikistan: Teen Uses School As Springboard To A Better Life
Firuz Arimzoda
(RFE/RL)
Stories about children in Tajikistan often focus on their hardships. The
Central Asian nation has some of the worst poverty rates in the former
Soviet Union. Thousands of children each year are forced onto the street,
giving up school in order to earn money any way they can. But not every
story is so bleak. As the UN marks International Youth Day on 12 August
with a pledge to guarantee quality schooling for young people around the
world, RFE/RL correspondent Firuz Barotov met one 13-year-old boy in
Dushanbe who puts learning first -- and is determined to help all Tajik
children get the education they deserve.
Dushanbe, 11 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Like most serious students, Firuz
Arimzoda keeps a grueling schedule.
The teenager -- who speaks Tajik, Russian, and Turkish, and is now
studying English -- admits it's not always easy to settle in for two hours
of homework after a full day at school.
"Sometimes, when I have to study my languages, I feel tired, like I don't
want to do it, like I don't like it," he says. "But once I tell myself
that I have to do it, then I want to."
That self-discipline has already allowed Firuz to skip two grades at the
Tajik-Turkish College, a respected school in the capital Dushanbe. In
September, he will begin ninth grade.Firuz's mother says she wants her
children to get the best education possible, start rewarding careers --
and work in Tajikistan, rather than living abroad.
Like his older brother, who also skipped two grades at school and is now
attending university in St. Petersburg, Firuz has big plans for his future
education. He just has trouble choosing -- he names Moscow State
University, the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations, Oxford, and
Cambridge all as possible options.
"I'd like to study at a Tajik university," says Firuz, a short, intense
boy who twirls a finger through his hair when he is deep in thought. "But
I don't think I can get the education I want there."
Firuz is interested in computers
(RFE/RL)
Firuz is a conspicuous presence among his older classmates. He may be
smaller, but he is also one of the best students in his class. Even his
hobbies, things like blogs, programming, and surfing the Internet --
anything, seemingly, having to do with computers -- show a serious side.
His mother, Rano, is proud of her sons' accomplishments. But far from
indulging her children, she says her job as a mother is to push them to
succeed.
"I have one aim and one wish for my children. I want to see my children
get the best education possible, and become specialists in whatever
profession they choose," she says. "Then I want to see them work in their
own country -- Tajikistan. I always tell their teachers to be honest about
their grades, not to inflate them. Because their education is the most
important thing."
Firuz's parents both graduated with economics degrees, and went on to
become university lecturers. But life has changed in post-Soviet
Tajikistan. Their once-prestigious jobs now pay almost nothing -- just $15
a month, at a time when even minimal monthly living expenses are close to
$60."Tajik children should focus only on their studies, because our
country needs to progress more quickly."
Firuz's father has kept his university job, saying he can't do anything
except teach. But Rano left her job and became a street vendor, selling
Chinese and Turkish imported goods at Dushanbe's central market.
She works long hours, and her life as a vendor seems light years away from
her former teaching career. But she earns the money needed for her sons'
schooling. Tajikistan Post-Soviet is no longer a place where children can
get a good education for free.
There were times she worked three jobs, and she still travels frequently
to countries like China, South Korea, and Turkey to buy goods to sell at
Dushanbe's markets. But Rano says if parents have a conscience, "they will
sacrifice themselves."
Firuz and friends
(RFE/RL)
"I wanted to give my children everything that they deserve, because they
are no less talented than other children," she says. "If you give birth to
a child, you have to do everything you can to help him stand on his own
feet, to get a good education -- because he is your future protector."
Tajikistan has some of the highest school-dropout rates in the former
Soviet Union. According to the UN's children's agency, UNICEF, 18 percent
of Tajik children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working. Many of them
are homeless, and some are addicted to drugs.
Firuz says he knows many children his age who don't go to school. That's
why he hopes someday to put his education to work to ensure that all Tajik
children have the chance to go to school.Tajikistan has some of the
highest school-dropout rates in the former Soviet Union. UNICEF says 18
percent of Tajik children between the ages of five and 14 are forced to
work to help support their families.
Probably the best way to achieve this, he suggests, is to be elected
president of Tajikistan. "If I become president, this is what I will do: I
will do everything I can to give the children of Tajikistan everything
they need," Firuz says. "Their lives should be focused on education -- not
providing money for their families. They should focus only on their
studies, because our country needs to progress more quickly."
In the meantime, there is still time to relax. But even this involves
discipline. Firuz spends an hour each day practicing tae kwon do and
aikido.
Exercise, he says, gives his brain "a chance to relax."
According to research by the Asian Development Bank and UNICEF, there
are now more than 70,000 school-age children in Kyrgyzstan working to
earn money for their families instead of attending school. RFE/RL's
Kyrgyz Service correspondent Jannat Toktosunova went to the Osh Bazaar
in Bishkek to meet some of these children:
REAL AUDIO: For lower-quality streaming video, click here, for
higher-quality FTP download, click here.
WINDOWS MEDIA: For lower-quality streaming video, click here, for
higher-quality FTP download, click here.
Also see:
International Youth Day A Time For Governments To Remember Commitments
Russia: In City Of Riches, 'Average' Family Focuses On The Essentials
Tajikistan: Nasiba's Wedding Song
Moldova: Young People Breathing Life Into Village
Armenia: Yo...