Emma Harden-Wolfson

A relatively regular occurrence in Central Asia is the top-down hiring and firing of ministers and senior civil servants (I’ve lost count of how many Ministers of Education there have been in Kyrgyzstan, but then again, the country’s also had its fair share of revolutions and government change, so the added frisson is somewhat specific).

In January 2024, the Tajik government announced three new hires – but this time, they are all to man new departments (and yes, they are all of the male variety). And all three units will have a bearing on the direction of education, science and innovation in Tajikistan.

In full, the new departments are the Innovation and Digital Technologies Agency, the Committee for Primary and Secondary Vocational Education under the Government of Tajikistan, and the Permanent Mission to UNESCO (i.e., with a mandate for education, science and culture).

Innovation, often wrapped up with digitalization, is tied to higher education particularly in terms of the types of courses and skills taught to students at that level. It also links to the idealized connections between higher education and industry that are presumed to generate innovation.

Has anyone else noticed the big global trend of (re)orienting postsecondary systems towards vocational education? Mainly lower income countries, but not exclusively. The agenda is for sure being driven by international orgs like the World Bank (but not only them, UNESCO and others are also on the vocational bandwagon), seen as a lower cost and faster way to upskill populations. Vocational education aligns well to the dominant discourse that education = labour market needs.

And the third department, the one that will report to UNESCO, wraps together education and science. What’s interesting here is the impact that connection to this international space could have on the domestic education/science agenda in Tajikistan. And there’s always a legitimacy argument to make about why countries choose to align or participate in these global fora.

Now, here’s a closer look at each of the new departments (source: Asia-Plus):

Innovation and Digital Technologies Agency (IDTA)

While criticism is frowned upon in Tajikistan, the head of state himself proclaimed in 2021 that the level of digitalization in the country was inadequate. This led to the establishment of the IDTA, which has finally gone live in 2024 after a budget line to fund it was identified (note: the apparent lack of financing is another interesting admission of ‘weakness’ in a state where such pronouncements are rarely made public – makes me wonder whether the government was hoping to secure international support for IDTA). Its remit is to digitalize the economy, develop ICT across the country (no mean feat for a territory that is 93% mountainous), and introduce e-government.

IDTA will be led by 40-year-old Khurshed Mirzo. Until now, Mirzo has had a limited public profile, but he is seen as a key figure in the cabinet of Dushanbe mayor and President-in-waiting Rustam Emomali. Mirzo began his working life in the import business, joining government briefly in the early 2010s before becoming important enough to receive a slate of senior appointments in state-owned enterprises and government committees.

Committee for Primary and Secondary Vocational Education under the Government of Tajikistan (CPSVE)

The education system in Tajikistan divides vocational education into two parts – the primary level being lycées and professional-technical schools [this is a literal translation, you can also read this as ‘vocational school’], and the secondary has colleges, technical schools, and schools [again we run into linguistic issues – in Russian there are two words for school, and the one used here (училище) makes it clear we’re not talking about compulsory level school (школа)].

There was apparently talk of creating a Ministry of/Committee for Higher and Vocational Education but the government has instead decided to set up the CPSVE. It will be led by Dr Farhod Rahimi, former President of the Academy of Sciences (see my last post for what the Academy could have been). Dr Rahimi developed his academic and then administrative career at Tajikistan National University before moving to the Academy of Sciences.

Interestingly, rather than reporting to the existing Ministry of Education and Science, CPSVE is accountable directly to the government. The Asia-Plus article introducing these departments wonders aloud whether this is part of a move to gradually strip power from the Ministry and consolidate it even more centrally. Prior to CPSVE, they point out that two other committees reporting to the President have been created – one for the national testing centre, which deals with university admissions, and the other for education system supervision.

And it is also noted that the former Minister of Education Muhammadyusuf Imomzoda and his deputies were summarily fired after the President criticized the education sector in 2021. As Asia-Plus diplomatically records, “Dismissals in the highest echelons of government in Tajikistan are extremely rare.”

Permanent Mission to UNESCO

The decision to have a permanent mission to UNESCO is guided by the country’s (well, the President’s) wish to raise greater awareness of Tajik culture and heritage. On the one hand, you can’t argue with this – there is so much incredible history, culture and geography in Tajikistan that regrettably few people outside of the country know about. On the other hand, showcasing these traditions could also serve to deflect attention from some of the many challenges facing the country, and also provide an opportunity for the President to keep crafting Tajikistan’s heritage in a mould palatable to his ideology, potentially rewriting history and traditions in the process.

Let’s see how Dilshod Rahimi, the appointed representative, gets on with the post. He’s an obvious appointee with a background in cultural heritage and previous experience at the Ministry of Culture.