Current Situation Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan | Fact Sheet

Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan | Fact Sheet (July 2019) TAJIKISTAN

Cu rrent Situation 8.9 million population (AoS RT, 2018) 73.8 % lives in rural areas

864,429 children of 3-6 years of age 86% 219,510 children of 6 years of age 1,547,905 all children < 6 years of age

OF CHILDREN OF SDG Target 4.2: 3-6 YEARS OF AGE By 2030 countries should ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, REMAIN DEPRIVED care and pre-primary education so that they are ready OF ATTENDING for primary education.

EARLY CHILDHOOD National Preschool Target until 2020: EDUCATION 30% children of 3-6 years of age attend various models of ECE provision (coverage in 2018-2019 – 14.7%). SERVICES. 50% children of 6 years of age attend various models of ECE provision (coverage in 2018-2019- 30%).

National Preschool Target until 2030 50% children of 3-6 years of age attend various models of ECE provision (coverage in 2018-2019 – 14.7%). Tajikistan Preschool Education Data 636 public/private/ministerial preschool settings (66% in Required actions to achieve national target for 3-6 y.o. urban areas) reaching out to 96,578 children of 3-6 years of (30%) by 2020: Option I. Public preschool model: age. - 872 additional public KGs to be built for 130,803 out 1,697 alternative ECE centres mainly in rural areas reaching of preschool 3-6 y.o. children (150 children/KG). out to 46,360 children of 6 years of age. Option II. Alternative ECE model: ------5,232 additional ECE centers to be built for 130,803 Total ECE budget: 267.2 mln Somoni (EMIS, 2018-2019) out of preschool 3-6 y.o. children (25 children/center). 1.1% of public allocation for preschool sector out of the Required actions to achieve national target for 6 y.o. (50%) total state budget. by 2020: 6.9% of public allocations for preschool education out of Option I. Public preschool model: the total education budget. - 288 additional public KGs to be built for 43,305 out of 0.43% of GDP. preschool 6 y.o. children (150 children/KG). Option II. Alternative ECE model: Scientific research in ECE - 1,732 additional ECE centers to be built for 43,305 out of preschool 6 y.o. children (25 children/center).

Required actions to achieve national target for 3-6 y.o. (50%) by 2030: Option I. Public preschool model: - Total 2,857 public KGs are needed for 428,690 children 3-6 y.o. (150 children/KG). Option II. Alternative ECE model: - Total 17,147 ECE centers are needed for 428,690 children 3-6 y.o. (25 children/center).

UNICEF Programmatic focus ▪ Support education authorities and stakeholders to strengthen policy, legislation and advocate for adoption of clear regulatory framework enabling provision of affordable, inclusive and quality Early Learning and School Readiness. ▪ Support education authorities and stakeholders to develop comprehensive M&E framework and tools for monitoring and assessment of learning outcomes. ▪ Improve the capacity of education authorities and stakeholders to implement programmes that facilitate provision of accessible, inclusive and quality Early Learning and School Readiness. ▪ Provide alternative programmes for accessible, equitable, inclusive and quality Early Learning and School Readiness. Challenges Over the past five years (2014-2019), the enrolment rate of Key Challenges in Preschool Education preschool education has not increased above 14.7 percent. Considering insufficient public resource allocations, Preschool education system offers limited demographic dynamics with intensive population growth, services in public, alternative and private settings, which continue to rely critically on reliance on external funding and unaffordability of parents to external funding collected mainly by parents, cover fees, the national target to increase ECE enrolment to 30% while public allocations for early childhood for children of 3-6 years of age until 2020 is too ambitions and education is underfunded, which makes only unlikely to be achieved. 5 percent out of the total education budget.

Proposed actions and expected results Over 70 % of ECE teachers do not have ACCESS required qualification to support young - Generating knowledge and advocacy for increased coverage children’ development and learning of children with ECE services, children with disabilities mainstreaming in schools, girls and ethnic minorities Lack of collaboration between different through a number of interventions. sectors responsible for provision of services - Monitoring education participation of the most to young children leads to absence of a marginalized children through EMIS data and other common vision of the country to ensure - Transition to 12-year education system with one of the holistic development of a child. option to make pre-primary education compulsory for increased coverage in ECE. Expected result: - ECE provision through variety of low-cost models for the most marginalized and deprived children in rural areas. - Improved ECE data for effective planning and implementation of public allocation. - Significant increase in enrolment of children of 6 years of age in ECE through one-year pre-primary school readiness programme.

QUALITY Development of an assessment system to measure the quality of the ECE programmes and at the same time ensure improved early childhood development and learning of young children. Expected result: - Evidence generated to support programmatic improvement and advocacy for improved ECE services. - Strengthened national M&E framework to measuring child’s development and learning outcomes.

Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan UNICEF in Tajikistan, 2019

Table 1. Actual and estimated coverage to achieve national preschool education target until 2020 (NEDS 2020).1

Region # of children in 2018 ECE coverage in 2018 Estimated ECE coverage in 2020 6 y.o. 3-6 y.o. 6 y.o. 3-6 y.o. 6 y.o. (50%) 3-6 y.o. (30%) Dushanbe 17,542 58,193 6,380 23,765 8,771 17,458 Khatlon 81,781 331,681 21,276 31,261 40,891 99,504 Sughd 63,473 256,502 24,204 51,684 31,737 76,951 DRS 52,644 200,977 8,306 14,135 26,322 60,293 GBAO 4,070 17,076 6,284 7,680 2,035 5,123 Total 219,510 864,429 66,450 (30%) 128,525 (14.7%) 109,755 259,329

Table 2. Estimated coverage to achieve national preschool education target until 2030 (NDS 2030).

Region Estimated # of children in 2030 Estimated ECE coverage in 2030 6 y.o. 3-6 y.o. 6 y.o. (100%) 3-6 y.o. (50%) Dushanbe 18,756 75,023 18,756 37,511 Khatlon 106,901 427,606 106,901 213,803 Sughd 82,671 330,648 82,671 165,342 DRS 64,775 259,101 64,755 129,551 GBAO 5,504 22,015 5,504 11,007 Total 278,607 1,114,429 278,607 557,215

Proportion of preschool settings by regions 800 740

700

600

500 435

400

300 268 251 202 200 132 89 100 46 60 26 31 13 7 3 9 6 3 12 0 Sughd Khatlon DRS GBAO Dushanbe

Public KG ECE alternative centers Private KG Ministerial KG

1 UNICEF Tajikistan CO’s calculation based on data in EMIS 2018-2019. 3

Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan UNICEF in Tajikistan, 2019

Proportion of preschool settings by urban/rural

1400 1286 1200 1000 800 600 417 411 400 219 200 0 Urban (15 towns) Rural (46 settlements & villages) Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG ECE alternative centers

Proportion of children in preschool settings 45000 42282 40000 35000 30000 27576 25000 20000 15482 15000 9129 10000 5000 2109 0 Sughd Khatlon DRS GBAO Dushanbe

Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG ECE alternative centers

Proportion of children in preschool settings by urban/rural 80000 75348 70000 60000 50000 40000 34063 30000 21230 20000 12297 10000 0 Urban Rural

Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG ECE alternative centers

Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan UNICEF in Tajikistan, 2019

Proportion of children in preschool settings by gender

60000 53261

50000 43317 40000

30000 25498 20862 20000

10000

0 Boys Girls

Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG ECE alternative centers

Proportion of children by nationality in Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG 33242 35000 30000 26266 25000 20000 14533 15000 8574 10000 6914 5000 2167 1979 228 238 900 2 47 29 19 130 1070173 67 0 Sughd Khatlon DRS GBAO Dushanbe

Tajik Uzbek Russian Other (KRG, TRK KZH, BEL, ARM, AZR, UKR)

Proportion of children in preschool settings by age

45000 41050 40000 35809 35000 30000 26581 23623 25000

20000 15145 13380 15000 8329 8699 10000 7609 6238 3395 2109 5000 1780 1717 348 0 Sughd Khatlon DRS GBAO Dushanbe

3-6 years old 6 years old all < 6 years old

Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan UNICEF in Tajikistan, 2019

Proportion of children in public preschool settings by vulnerability 3000 2389 2500 2000 1500 799 898 1000 568 338 206 500 0 11 69 156 0 Sughd Khatlon DRS GBAO Dushanbe

CwD Other (orphan, poor, neglected, with single parent)

Education background of preschool staff (administrator, technical staff and teachers) in Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG by urban and rural

3000 2486 2500 2000 1606 1500 740 921 858 817 1000 501 300 413 409 500 269 125 0 Higher pedagogical Higher education Higher incomplete Secondary vocationalSecondary vocational General secondary education (pedagogical)

Urban Rural

Preschool teachers cetogory in preschools settings (Public KG/Private KG/Ministerial KG) by urban and rural (2018-2019) 3000 2642 2500

2000

1446 1500 1228

1000 764 500 519 523 500 328 329 176 198 153 191 72 58 111 89 39 47 32 0 Sughd Khatlon DRS GBAO Dushanbe

1st category 2nd category Higher Education No category

Early Childhood Education in Tajikistan UNICEF in Tajikistan, 2019 NOTES

______

UNICEF Tajikistan Country Office Address: Lohuti str. 5, proezd 1, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 7340137

Tel: +992 446000190/92/94 Fax: +992 446000196 Email: [email protected] Website: unicef.tj Follow us: FB/uniceftajikistan TW/UnicefTajik YouTube/UNICEFTajikistan