DUSHANBE (Asia-Plus) — The first forum of ethnic Tajiks of Uzbekistan took place in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on January 27.

According to Tribune Zamaneh.com, the meeting that was held under the motto Poetry Uniting Nations brought together poets, writers, linguists and teachers of the Tajik language from different regions of Uzbekistan, including Tashkent, Samarqand, Bukhara, Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Ferghana, Navoi, and Jizzakh.

The chairperson of the National Centre of Tajiks of Uzbekistan, Ms. Sharofatbonu Jourazoda, inaugurated the meeting that discussed the best samples of Tajik poetry.

More than 100 residents of Tajik-language villages in the Tashkent region recently sent an open letter to the presidents of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan drawing their attention to the problem of shortage of teachers in local Tajik-language schools. The letter was published in Ovozi Tojik (“Voice of Tajik”, آواز تاجیک), a state-owned newspaper in Uzbekistan for the ethnic Tajik community.

The letter authors — residents of the Bustonlik district in the Tashkent region — suggested that the authorities explore ways to train up more personnel to work in Tajik-language schools. The letter notes that Tajik-speaking specialists were previously trained by Tashkent Regional Pedagogical Institute, based in Angren, but that institution was shut down in 2014. “If this problem is not solved, then perhaps Tajik schools will have to close”, the letter says.

Tajik communities hope the issue might be addressed when the Uzbek president visits Tajikistan in March. According to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, this is the first time in 25 years that the Tajik community has made a public show of raising the issue of education in their native language.