DUSHANBE (TajikTA) —Russia will provide Tajikistan 50 professors to teach Russian in schools.

The project of humanitarian and cultural cooperation with Tajikistan, including the work of Russian teachers in Tajik schools, was developed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. As part of cooperation in the field of education, a contract has been concluded for providing teachers to another country.

“From September 1 this year, Russia will increase the number of teachers who will come to teach in schools in various regions of the republic. In particular, 50 teachers will come from Russia’, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Rakhmatullo Mirboboev told reporters at a press conference today.

According to him, the initiative to send teachers to Tajikistan comes from both countries:

The practice of sending Russian teachers is evaluated positively by us. It’s good when the subject is taught by a native speaker.

Earlier it was reported that last year only 29 teachers arrived in Tajikistan. As practice showed, the first experience of Russian-Tajik cooperation in this field brought positive results. In this regard, the Tajik authorities asked Russia to increase the number of teachers coming from various Russian cities.

Each year, more and more citizens in all Central Asian states are losing touch with Russian. Demographic data indicates that younger generations, especially those living outside the five capitals, can barely speak the language at all. The policy of nationalization that was taken by the new independent states has led to a considerable reduction of bilingualism that was characteristic of the Soviet republics, with a decrease in the role of the Russian language, though it is still the major means for intercultural communication, acquiring information in the domains of politics, economics, science, technology and culture and obtaining jobs in Russia. A new type of bilingualism based on English is observed, geared towards raising the national elite. In some countries, Turkish is also gradually gaining weight.