w
“strongly influence well-being, obesity/
stunting, mental health, heart disease,
competence in literacy and numeracy, and
criminality,” among other things.
ECD programs have been available in
Tajikistan for many years, dating back to
the Soviet era. However, the programs more
often resembled daycare centers than educational programs. More recently, the Aga
Khan Development Network and Ministry
of Education in Tajikistan developed ECD
curricula and early childhood development
centers, but the centers held classes only a
few times each week and had limited capacity for student enrollment. Consequently,
many children were denied access to ECD
programs, and those who had access only
participated in incomplete programs.
As a mother of two young children herself, Mahbuba knew a change was needed.
On behalf of CAIT, Mahbuba contacted
the Educational Department of GornoBadakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO),
in the region of Tajikistan where CAI works.
Gharibsho Gharibshoev, then head of the
department, informed her that ECD teach-
ers had mostly been trained many years ago
without refresher courses, their resources
were outdated, and they had limited access
to any new developments in ECD curricula.
This was no surprise to Mahbuba. With
its dire economic circumstance, nearly 80
percent of Tajikistan schools are in need
of repair, new textbooks must be developed and published, and teachers are in
high demand as complicated certification
requirements continue to cause problems. Before Tajikistan became independent, three years at a pedagogical school
counted as higher education, qualifying
individuals to work as teachers. That is
no longer the case. Individuals with this
educational background must now undertake two additional years of schooling to
be certified instructors.
Mahbuba wanted to initiate a new program
that would give more children access to quality early childhood development programs.
In order to do this, she needed permission
from Gharibshoev. When approached with
the idea, he was extremely happy with the
prospect of helping Mahbuba, saying no one
had ever done this before. He promised his
support.
Programs with better-trained caregivers
and teachers inarguably are more effective.
In 2014, in collaboration with the Institute
of Professional Development, Mahbuba and
her colleagues implemented the Tajikistan
Early Childhood Development Vocational
Program, geared toward training GBAO kindergarten (kindergarten is interchangeable
with ECD in Tajikistan) teachers the latest in
early childhood development methodology.
From November 2014 to August 2015,
almost all 83 kindergarten teachers from
GBAO attended the 12-day training course
organized by CAIT and its partners.
Confident that ECD teachers were receiving better training, Mahbuba’s next task
was to ensure the training techniques were
being implemented and that children were
benefiting. She decided to visit one of the
largest kindergarten buildings in GBAO,
Kindergarten #5. She was happy to see that
the teachers were in fact using the new methods of teaching, and the 320 children in the
program were happy and engaged in lessons.
Early education in
Tajikistan
Grades levels differ from the U.S.
system. Children do not typically
start school until they are 6 years
old, but can be enrolled in ECD
programs, or kindergarten, as
young as two.
Kindergarten/Early childhood
development programs
Ages 2 to 5
Primary: Class 0 – 4
Ages 6 - 11
Middle: Class 5 – 9
Ages 11 - 15
Secondary: Class 10– 11
Ages 15 - 17
Mahbuba Qurbonalieva, country director for CAI-Tajikistan.
FALL 2015
JOURNEY OF HOPE | 13