Children in Darvaza suffer from the authorities’ misguided policies

The executive authorities of the Darvaz district are forcing residents to send their children to a new gymnasium.

According to sources from Azda TV in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan, the executive bodies of state power in the Darvaz district have restricted or banned the activities of some general education schools in certain villages of the Kalai-Khumb rural community and are forcing parents to send students from these schools to the new school.

The new school refers to Gymnasium No. 1 for gifted children in the Kalai-Khumb rural community, the building of which was opened by Emomali Rahmon on August 15 during his working visit to GBAO. The school is intended for 840 students.

Residents of the villages of Umarak and Dashtak in the Darvaz district say that there are new schools in these two villages; however, the authorities have closed these schools and are forcing parents to send their children to Gymnasium No. 1 in Kalai-Khumb. The distance between the village of Umarak and Kalai-Khumb is approximately 3 kilometers.

Some parents reported that the distance between the village of Umarak and the village of Zing, where there is a new modern school, is less than 1 kilometer. However, despite numerous attempts by parents, the school administration is not returning the students’ documents so that parents can enroll their children in the nearest school.

According to the source, this new and modern gymnasium for gifted children has been built in Kalai-Khumb, the administrative center of the Darvaz district. At the same time, the executive authorities of the district are compelling all students from the villages of Dashtak and Umarak to attend this school.

The Darvaz district is part of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. Most of the educational process in the schools of the district takes place during the cold season when it rains or the ground is covered with snow. According to residents, walking 5-6 kilometers daily through snowy mountainous terrain is not an easy task, and it takes children more than an hour. For this reason, this initiative by the authorities ahead of the cold winter has greatly concerned parents.

According to experts, most residents of the village of Umarak are followers of Sunni Islam, while most residents of the village of Dashtak are followers of Ismaili Shia Islam.

In the past two years, under various pretexts, the authorities have closed and banned the activities of all public facilities built by the Aga Khan Foundation in the village of Dashtak, including the medical point, the jamaat-khana (place of worship), and the school.

According to experts closely familiar with the situation, the authorities, in order to prevent the spread of various rumors, have closed other schools in nearby villages, particularly in the village of Umarak, which is the closest. Now, according to experts, children in the village of Umarak have become victims of the authorities’ misguided policies.