Eurasia Foundation: Junior Achievement Tajikistan

Click Here
to read other
Eurasia Foundation
Grantee Profiles

A Eurasia Foundation Grantee Profile

Focusing on the Next Generation:
How the Junior Achievement Program Has Helped Tajik
Youth Gain an Understanding of Free Enterprise and Free Thinking

Khujand, Tajikistan

Jennifer Marsh, Eurasia Foundation Tashkent Regional Office

When Malim Rustamov visited Texas in 1993, he was shocked to experience a market economy in action. "It was unlike anything I ever imagined," he exclaims. "When I was in school, we studied Soviet political economy, which is like night and day from Western economics. So, when I picked up a textbook on market economics, I read the whole thing in one evening! I realized then that free enterprise is very important for our country’s future and that we need to teach our children about it."

Malim is the principal of a private school in Khujand, a large city tucked in the corner of Northern Tajikistan. The country’s transition to a market economy has left many unemployed and struggling to survive. As a school administrator, Malim saw great potential in the youth of his city and wanted them to share his newfound knowledge of market economics. As fortune would have it, he met Gulbahor Makhkamova, a local community activist who introduced him to the Junior Achievement Program of Uzbekistan, a Eurasia Foundation grant recipient.

Since 1919, Junior Achievement has changed the lives of more than thirty million young people by teaching them the value of free enterprise, business, and economics in improving the quality of their lives. The Eurasia Foundation has been instrumental in supporting Junior Achievement in Tajikistan and throughout the former Soviet Union, having funded thirty-nine projects in those countries, totaling nearly $1 million. From Moldova to the Russian Far East, the Eurasia Foundation is funding Junior Achievement’s efforts to convey a fundamental understanding of free enterprise to the children of this region, ensuring that they are prepared to meet the challenges of a global economy.

After trying a Junior Achievement pilot program in his private school, Malim was impressed with the results. "Parents would walk up to me and say, ‘My son knows more about economics than I do! Can I borrow a book?’ Malim realized that the students were getting more involved in their studies as a result of the new program, and he began to look for a way to introduce the program to a larger audience. Government funding, however, for educational programs outside of the public school system is practically nonexistent in a region where the schools are run down and teachers barely paid. Malim knew that costly training for teachers and textbooks would be needed if the Junior Achievement program was to be implemented effectively for the broader community.

Malim teamed up with Gulbahor, and together they turned to the Eurasia Foundation for help. Their proposal led to an $11,000 grant in 1998 through the Foundation’s Cooperation and Exchange in Central Asia Competition. They then joined forces with Junior Achievement of Uzbekistan, which trained forty-five teachers from Khujand and surrounding areas in the methods of teaching market economics. They returned not only with newfound knowledge, but with new teaching methods, as well. Just two years later, the new environment in the classrooms is evident to any visitor.

Through its training programs for teachers in the former Soviet Union, Junior Achievement encourages them to expose their students to a new style of teaching and, consequently, thinking. The Junior Achievement method has made a noticeable change in the way students interact with each other and with their teachers. In the past, teachers used the Soviet method, which is restrictive and intentionally limits a student’s ability to think creatively. As Nataliya Yurenkovo, a Junior Achievement-trained teacher in Chkalovsk, a town near Khujand, explains, "The Soviet method never let students form their own opinions. It taught us that the textbook is right and everything else is wrong. The method we learned through Junior Achievement encourages the art of discourse. The idea that a student can debate with a teacher is completely new to us, but it’s great! The students are learning to use their minds—they’re learning to think for themselves," she exclaims. Some teachers have even complained that the new method is disrupting the learning process. "The other teachers just don’t understand it yet, but they will," Nataliya says hopefully. "Just give them time."

One reason why the Junior Achievement program has been so effective is that it is not simply a textbook course; it has a practical component as well. After studying the basic principles of market economics, students are required to create and run their own small businesses. Sukhrob Makhmudov, a graduate of Malim’s school, explains how he and his classmates decided to create a game show business. "We borrowed 20,000 Tajik rubles (about $12) to start our business," he recalls. "We thought it would be easy. But this experience showed us that running a business in a market economy is really hard work." In the end, the students were able to repay the loan, and the business even saw a profit of $10. "That may not seem like a lot of money in other countries," notes Sukhrob, "but here in Khujand, where the average salary is two or three dollars a month, it’s pretty good."

Junior Achievement has become increasingly popular throughout Central Asia and the rest of the former Soviet Union as both teachers and students scramble to learn about the program. Over eighty schools in Tajikistan’s Leninabad Oblast alone now teach the program. According to Malim, "Many teachers come to me for advice. They want to know what it’s all about and how to receive training." Sixteen rural teachers from the oblast recently underwent training, but Malim notes that many more are waiting. Next, Malim, Gulbahor, and their colleagues hope to open a resource center for Junior Achievement instructors. "We want to provide a place where teachers can come for help, exchange ideas, or just make copies," says Malim. He and his colleagues are also working with a group in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital city to the south, to introduce the program to students and teachers there.

February 2001