VZCZCXRO2494
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #0802/01 1140707
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 240707Z APR 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5608
INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ALMATY PRIORITY 7826
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT PRIORITY 1919
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK PRIORITY 2442
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE PRIORITY 2345
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 6623
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0679
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 1738

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000802 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2016 
TAGS: SOCI SCUL PGOV PHUM CVIS UZ
SUBJECT: (CORRECTED COPY) WORRYING TRENDS IN EDUCATION 
 
REF: A) TASHKENT 634 B) TASHKENT 377 C) 05 TASHKENT 
 
     2517 D) 05 TASHKENT 3140 
 
TASHKENT 00000802  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D). 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Politics continue to play a defining role 
in education in Uzbekistan.  In a reflection of its close 
ties to Moscow, the GOU is considering increasing the 
number of hours of compulsory Russian language classes. 
Teachers have been instructed to inform the Ministry of 
Education if any NGO contacts them.  Students have been 
warned not to apply for study programs in Western 
countries.  IREX, which handled U.S. exchange programs, has 
been shut down.  Law students were also prevented from 
participating in a humanitarian law workshop sponsored by 
the International Committee of the Red Cross in 
Kyrgyzstan.  University students are required to attend 
"Karimov studies" courses devoted to the President's books 
and speeches, and are now subject to expulsion for missing 
lectures.  Meanwhile, children of the elite continue to 
study in the U.S.  End summary. 
 
RUSSIFICATION OF EDUCATION? 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Several education experts with close ties to the 
Ministry of Education told Poloff that GOU officials are 
considering increasing the number of hours of Russian 
language classes in primary and secondary schools.  A 
consultant working for the USAID-funded NGO "Academy for 
Educational Development" (AED) told Poloff that a decree to 
this effect might be issued this summer, to allow time for 
the changes to take effect before the beginning of the new 
academic year.  While some media reports in past months 
indicate that Russian language class hours have already 
increased, our sources tell us that no official decision 
has yet been made.  (Note:  The AED consultant added that 
school directors already have authority to slightly vary 
hours allotted to each class while staying within the 
established curriculum framework.  End note.)  Following 
the signing of the November 2005 Russia-Uzbekistan 
partnership agreement, there were rumors that more Russian 
language teachers would be hired.  (Note: The government 
may be trying to attract back some of the many teachers who 
have left for Russia and Kazakhstan in search of better 
paying jobs.  End note.)  A recent Presidential decree 
providing for the opening of a Moscow State University 
branch in Tashkent in the fall (ref A), is another sign of 
Russia's renewed influence in the educational sphere. 
 
GOVERNMENT BARS STUDENTS FROM STUDYING IN WESTERN COUNTRIES 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶3. (C) A Ministry of Education decree released in August 
2005 effectively imposed a blanket prohibition on any 
cooperation between Uzbek education institutions and 
Western organizations without prior approval by the 
government (ref B).  The Head of the Ministry of Higher 
Education's International Relations Department told one of 
our contacts that the GOU has ordered schools and 
universities not to provide transcripts or any other 
information to students seeking to apply to study in 
Western countries.  Several recent incidents relayed to 
Poloff confirm this information.  One contact told Poloff 
that her relative, an applicant to the U.S. high school 
Youth Exchange Opportunity program, was unable to obtain an 
official transcript from her school, or even a simple 
letter noting her student status.  Despite the student's 
pleas that the documents were needed for her "transport 
card application" and because she wanted to "volunteer for 
an international organization," the school principal 
refused to issue them.  The principal accused the student 
of lying, expressing fear that the documents were for a 
U.S. high school program application, and warned the 
student that she would be barred from ever returning to the 
school if she studied in the United States.  The principal 
also added that applying to a U.S. educational program 
would create serious problems for the school. 
 
¶4. (C) Many international organizations have faced 
difficulties sending students abroad for training.  For 
example, the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) Central Asia Regional Delegation deputy director 
 
TASHKENT 00000802  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
told Poloff that law students were barred from 
participating in the ICRC's International Humanitarian Law 
regional moot court competition in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, 
scheduled for early May.  The MFA told the ICRC that it was 
"unsafe" for Uzbek students to visit Kyrgyzstan. 
 
¶5.  (C) According to a National University of Uzbekistan 
student, friends of his at another university were told in 
2005 that they would be expelled for studying in U.S. 
undergraduate programs.  However, students are being 
encouraged to study at Russian universities.  Russian-Uzbek 
cooperation in higher education is clearly expanding, as 
evidenced by the planned opening of a Moscow State 
University branch in Tashkent (ref A). 
 
TEACHERS TOLD NOT TO SPEAK WITH NGOs 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (C) In line with the August 2005 Ministry of Education 
decree, an education expert formerly affiliated with the 
Open Society Institute, and whose NGO conducts training for 
teachers, told Poloff that the ministry had sent letters to 
all schools asking teachers to inform the ministry if any 
NGO ever seeks to contact them.  Upon receiving this 
letter, the rector of one Tashkent high school withdrew her 
teachers from the training program. 
 
MANDATORY "KARIMOV STUDIES" COURSES 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Several National University of Uzbekistan master's 
degree students told Poloff that they were required to 
attend seminars devoted to President KarimovQs speeches and 
policies on February 7 and 14.  The students said that the 
seminars were much stricter than in past years, when they 
could skip "Soviet-type" lectures devoted to Karimov 
without penalty.  Anyone skipping the February seminars was 
told they would face expulsion.  Professors and lecturers 
were warned they would be fired unless they taught the 
seminars. 
 
¶8. (C) These three-hour long "Karimov Vedenie" ("Karimov 
studies") seminars were organized by the University's 
"Democratization Department" and counted as official 
exams.  (Note: At the University of World Economy and 
Diplomacy the lectures were held under the auspices of the 
Philosophy and Social Science department.  End note.) 
According to the students, most of their 40-50 classmates 
were sleeping or talking throughout the lecture, with some 
chatting on their mobile phones.  Several of the lectures 
covered the May 2005 Andijon events, and alleged that the 
United States was responsible for the unrest.  NGOs were 
described as constituting "one of the world's worst 
evils."  A lecturer also criticized the U.S. presence at 
the Karshi-Khanabad airbase, to which our contact told us 
that he had raised his hand and noted that the U.S. had 
vacated K2 back in November 2005.  The seminar included an 
oral examination with questions on "Uzbekistan's democratic 
model," as laid out in Karimov's books. It also touched on 
the role of international NGOs, which were described as 
"spies, doing bad things." 
 
LACK OF ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT INFORMATION 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Graduate students from the National University told 
Poloff that three Internet resource centers at their 
University have been shut down since June 2004, hampering 
research possibilities: the OSCE Internet Cafe, the Civic 
Education Center, and the Open Society Institute library. 
Students are facing a shortage of adequate research 
materials. One student said that books such as Samuel 
Huntington's "Third Wave of Democratization" are very 
difficult to find, and can only be obtained through 
purchase on the Internet, which is prohibitively expensive. 
 
¶10. (C) A National University student also told Poloff 
that many high ranking University officials have been 
replaced by hard-core Karimov loyalists. The somewhat open 
Dean of the National University, Gulmira Yusupova, was, for 
example, replaced by Bahodir Hasanov, who reportedly does 
not have an academic background. Farhod Tolipov, a U.S. 
exchange alumnus, was fired from his position as professor 
at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in 
September 2005 after writing an article criticizing the 
expulsion of the U.S. airbase at Karshi-Khanabad (ref C). 
Former FM Sodiq Safaev, known to be positively disposed 
toward the U.S., was removed as Rector of the University of 
World Economy and Diplomacy in late 2005 (ref D). 
 
PROTECTING THE ELITES WHILE DENYING OPPORTUNITIES TO THE 
MASSES 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶11. (C) Comment: Despite the restrictions on student 
exchange programs to western countries, there are several 
hundred Uzbeks studying in the United States, many of whom 
are children of the elite whose families can afford the 
tuition fees. We fully expect that the GOU's clampdown on 
studying in the United States will continue to target the 
masses while exempting priveleged children; the GOU's 
approach to education, as in many other areas, is very self 
serving. End comment.