Mixed Success for Tajik Gypsy School

As Rustam Nabod reports, in 2004, the United Nations urged the Tajik authorities to do more to prevent discrimination against the 6,000 strong group known here as Luli.

Two years later, a special school was opened in the Vose district of southern Tajikistan. It faced many difficulties offering education to a community for whom making a living is the priority.

Many children did not have birth certificates, so teachers had to make rough guesses about whether they were old enough to go to school. In any case, the classes include children of greatly differing ages, since they are organised according to learning level.

Of an estimated 500 school-age Luli in the area, only 130 are attending the school. Some parents value education, while others think their children should stick to begging, an accepted way of making money.

There are also practical difficulties. It is expensive to provide a child with the clothing and food it needs for school, so some parents only allow one or two of their offspring to go.

Headmaster Bahrullo Mirzoev says Luli parents also fear that if their sons are at school, being in the system might mean they are be plucked out and conscripted into the Tajik army when they are old enough.

The audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.