OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities promotes multilingual education in Tajikistan

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Lamberto Zannier visited Tajikistan from 18 to 22 June 2019, where he continued to promote the adoption of multilingual education that achieves a balance between ensuring that minorities are able to learn in their own languages and making them proficient in the state (official) language, so that they can participate fully in society.

In the ethnically diverse Sughd province in the Fergana valley, Zannier visited an Uzbek language school and the recently reopened department of Uzbek philology at the University of Khujand.

The High Commissioner also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tajikistan Education Ministry, which underpins the Ministry’s participation in the HCNM’s Central Asia Education Programme. This programme, which has been running since 2012, supports the development of multilingual education in national minority schools in the region.

On 21 June, Zannier opened a roundtable on multilingual education in Dushanbe alongside the Deputy Education Minister Rakhmatullo Mirboboev. The roundtable and a working-level seminar held on 20 June aim to introduce government representatives and heads of education institutes to current best practices in the field of multilingual education.

During his visit, Zannier met a range of interlocutors, including minority representatives and government officials such as Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Muhriddin and Education Minister Nuriddin Said.