Do the children go to school in Tajikistan?

Children in Tajikistan go to primary school for four years. This is followed by five years at secondary school. Those who continue to school because they want to study have two more years ahead of them. School time then lasts a total of eleven years. There are plans to extend this to twelve years.

However, there are also children who do not even start school and those who drop out of school. The proportion of girls is higher than that of boys. In rural areas in particular, girls’ education is still seen as unnecessary.

The Tajik schools are often poorly equipped. Furniture is broken or missing completely, the heating or electricity does not work and there is also a lack of teaching materials in many schools.

But not only that: There is also a lack of teachers and those who are there are often poorly trained. Teachers are badly paid and that is why not many want to take up this profession. By the way, there are no school trips in Tajikistan either. All students wear a school uniform.

Children in Tajikistan

As a country located in Asia according to topschoolsintheusa, Tajikistan is a country where many families are poor. 31 out of 100 people are considered poor, five out of 100 people are even very poor. Children from poor families suffer particularly. For a long time child labor was very widespread, especially in rural areas. Children, schoolchildren and students had to help with the cotton harvest. This has since been banned and the number of children who toil in the fields is now low.

But of course Tajik children like to play with all problems. Football and baseball are played outside just like playing with a kind of shaggy ball: you throw it in the air and then shoot it up with your foot for as long as you can. Then it’s the turn of the next child. For another game, two children form shadow animals which then attack each other. The successful attacker wins.

Names in Tajikistan

And what are the names of the children in Tajikistan? For example, girls are called Sitora, which means star. Boys are called Dschachongir or Bachodur, which is supposed to express strength. So far there have also been many Russian names. These are now to be banned. Parents are then only allowed to give their children Tajik names.

Russified surnames are already banned. The president changed his name from Rahmonov to Rahmon in 2007. The endings -ow and -ew are now forbidden, the Persian endings -zod, -pur and -far should be used instead.

Paula

Paula lives in Germany. Your mother is from Tajikistan. Check out how Paula introduces herself!

Eating in Tajikistan

What do you eat in Tajikistan?

The cuisine of Tajikistan is similar to that of the other Central Asian neighbors Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Plov is the national dish in all of these countries. It is a dish made from rice with mutton or lamb and carrots. In Tajikistan, however, it is called Osh.

Here and there you will also find a round flatbread with a thicker rim, which is served with almost all meals. It’s called Non. By the way, you can tell from which region the bread comes from the typical bread stamp.

People like to eat a lot of meat, for example as shashlik, fried on a skewer, or as kebab, grilled veal.

Are also popular dumplings: Manti are meat filled pasta and Tschebureki are dumplings that fry in oil. You can find a recipe for Tschebureki in our tip! Well-known soups are Laghman, a noodle soup with meat and vegetables, and Schurbo, a light soup with mutton. Salads are also popular, for example as a cucumber and tomato salad.

In addition to rice, French fries, broad beans or chickpeas are served as side dishes. The range of fruit is diverse: melons, grapes, pomegranates, apricots, plums and apples are on offer, for example.

The main drink is tea. Older people mostly drink green tea, younger people more black tea.

Typically Tajik: Kurutob

A typical Tajik dish is Kurutob. It’s a stew that people like to eat with their hands. In addition to the named ingredients of dried cheese (Qurut) and water (Ob), it also contains onions, carrots, tomatoes, a flaky flatbread called Fatir (torn into pieces) and often lamb.