VZCZCXRO9727
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1206/01 3091112
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051112Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0874
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0290
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 1810

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001206 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON SCUL PGOV KCOR TI
SUBJECT: HIGHER EDUCATION IN TAJIKISTAN:  HIGHER BRIBES, LESS 
EDUCATION 
 
DUSHANBE 00001206  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Education is one of the most corrupt sectors 
of Tajikistan's society.  Bribes, rather than aptitude, often 
govern which students succeed.  Prospective students must pay as 
much as $15,000 in bribes to enter the country's most 
prestigious universities, while even provincial colleges require 
several hundred dollars.  Students often pay additional bribes 
to receive good grades on exams.  Part of the problem is that 
professors' official salaries are as little as $60 a month, 
forcing them to find other means of supporting themselves: 
either leaving the academic world or becoming involved in 
various sorts of corruption during admissions and exam periods. 
There is little will among politicians to change the system, 
either by increasing university wages, prosecuting egregious 
violators, or revamping university admissions.  The result is an 
educational system that increasingly fails to educate.  End 
summary. 
 
Exam Period = "Harvest Season" 
 
¶2. (SBU) Corruption exists throughout Tajikistan's economy, but 
the education system is reputed to be one of the most egregious. 
 Depending on the location, status, and prestige of a particular 
faculty, Dushanbe's universities have unofficial admissions fees 
ranging from $1,200 to $15,000.  Moreover, applicants who agree 
to pay bribes to be enrolled are also often willing to pay for 
grades throughout their years of education -- ensuring that 
students become cash cows for the duration of their studies. 
Tajikistan has a centralized system:  admissions and 
admission-related testing take place in July and August, midterm 
exams are in December and January, and final exams are in May 
and June.  These periods are known as "harvest season" because 
of the heavy demand for bribes. 
 
Ministry Focuses on Beard Length and Footwear 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to numerous observers, the quality of 
students is deteriorating as the system rewards wealth over 
achievement, leading to a burgeoning crisis in education.  Few 
in the government appear overly concerned.  The Minister of 
Education, Abdujabor Rahmonov, is himself notoriously corrupt. 
At times he almost appears to be gloating about his excesses: 
he boasts that he is a favorite of the President and is 
therefore untouchable.  (Note:  There have been increasing 
rumors that he will soon be removed from his post.  Such rumors 
frequently do not pan out, however.  End note.)  Rahmonov has 
not endeared himself with civil rights and religious advocates 
either, being among the most eager to enforce the ban on hijabs 
and other religious displays.  In what was billed as a major 
policy announcement, his ministry decreed that male professors 
over 50 years of age were allowed to have beards of no longer 
than 3 centimeters; those under 50 had to be clean-shaven.  In 
the same diktat, the ministry declared that galoshes were 
acceptable footwear for educational professionals. 
 
¶4. (SBU) An analyst from a respected local political think tank 
believes the government's inattention to education is 
intentional.  She likened the current policy to Turkmenistan 
under Niyazov:  "It is easier to control uneducated people." 
She estimated that 19 percent of Tajikistan's population was 
illiterate -- adding that the Ministry of Education asked her 
not to make her estimates public. 
 
Education to the Highest Bidder 
 
¶5. (U) Students at the Tajik National University (TNU) reported 
to Embassy staff they were forced to pay administrators $1,800 
to enter less prestigious faculties, and up to $5,000 to enter 
TNU's sought-after International Economic Relations Department 
in the Faculty of Finance and Economics.  Prices have been 
rising fast; in 2006 one student said she had to pay only $1,000 
for admission.  She believed there was no other way to enter 
TNU.  High entrance exam scores did not help, since 
administrators could simply replace the name of the accomplished 
test-taker with that of someone who had paid for admission. 
 
¶6. (U) A senior in TNU's Finance and Economics Faculty noted to 
us that a sharp price difference exists between admissions and 
exams.  While she paid $1,500 for admission, she said students 
paid as little as $10 to receive the equivalent of a B on 
various mid-term exams.  In general, admissions are far more 
expensive than good grades because the competition for admission 
is much more intense and the consequences of failure more 
extreme.  Once admitted, students can make contact with 
middlemen who can easily arrange affordable grades.  This same 
senior is one of the top students in her class, and because of 
her outstanding ability she was approached by a professor who 
asked her to take an admissions exam in place of an applicant 
who paid bribes to be accepted.  She said she refused. 
 
DUSHANBE 00001206  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7. (U) One TNU senior told us his neighbor, who was planning to 
enter the Tajik Medical University, was told by a middleman that 
the informal price tag was $15,000, the highest figure we heard. 
 In order to afford the bribe, instead of applying this year he 
joined hundreds of thousands of other Tajiks who left for Russia 
to work as labor migrants.  The senior told us bribes to enter 
the prestigious Russian Tajik Slavonic University and Tajik 
National University's Law School went as high as $10,000, 
depending on the faculty. 
 
Education Cheaper in the Provinces 
 
¶8. (U) In Khujand students usually pay less for their grades 
than in Dushanbe, according to a Khujand State University (KSU) 
student who transferred to the Tajik Russian Slavonic University 
in Dushanbe.  The most expensive faculties at KSU are Law and 
International Relations.  For admission, students pay an amount 
equal to their annual tuition fee, a bargain at $800.  And the 
top students do not actually bribe their professors.  However, 
many students who cannot manage good exam scores still can buy 
their grades at prices comparable to those in Dushanbe.  These 
low fees to upgrade one's grade can still make quite a 
difference to the teaching staff, whose salaries are a meager 
$60 to $70 a month. 
 
Largely Ignored by Media 
 
¶9. (U) There are few cases of corruption in the educational 
system reported in the media.  Law enforcement agencies 
certainly catch teachers demanding bribes, but our contacts say 
most cases are resolved when the police get their cut of the 
payoff.  A rare instance of media coverage occurred in August, 
when news agencies reported that a KSU teacher faced charges 
because she requested $1,200 to help an applicant gain admission 
to the university.  This is the only case post has come across 
in the media this year, but there are thousands of employees in 
the education sector whose livelihoods depend on bribery. 
 
Alternative Models Thin on the Ground 
 
¶10. (U) By all accounts the culture of corruption is pervasive 
throughout Tajikistan's state-run educational system and extends 
to the very highest levels.  The one independent university, 
Dushanbe's Tajikistan Institute of Innovation Technology and 
Communication, has faced harassment and legal challenges from 
the government.  Sources say that among other problems, the 
Institute has run afoul of the government for refusing to pay 
bribes to the Ministry of Education.  In addition, it has 
employed some notable opposition figures as instructors, 
including the heads of two opposition parties.  That it was 
founded by a United States citizen of Tajik origin may explain 
some of embassy's problems with the Minister.  The Institute's 
previous rector, a new deputy minister of education, has sworn 
that he will force the university to close. 
 
Comment:  As Titanic Sinks, Government Looks for New Icebergs 
 
¶11. (SBU) Comment:  According to the State Statistical 
Committee, Tajikistan's teachers make on average $53 a month. 
Living on $1.75 a day is not a viable option in Tajikistan's 
cities, and the need to supplement income is obvious, either via 
outright extortion of students, by charging for extra lessons, 
or by engaging in outside business.  The problem is hardly 
unique:  throughout the Tajik government, salaries are too low 
to support a normal life.  PolEcon Chief asked the President's 
senior economic advisers about their strategy for addressing the 
issue of starvation salaries in the education sector; they 
cheerfully missed the point, saying it wasn't really an issue 
since teachers could make money from their students in so many 
other ways.  While instituting the fiscal management systems and 
economic growth needed to cure the salary problem will take many 
years, providing more educational exchange opportunities and 
bringing the Peace Corps to Tajikistan would help change 
practices in the near term by changing the expectations of 
students and their parents.  End comment. 
GROSS