Financing for equity in primary and secondary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to schools
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
In Tajikistan, education is free and compulsory in state institutions up to the end of basic general education (Grade 9, typically age 15). The Ministry of Education and Science serves as the central governing body, responsible for setting national education policy, determining curriculum standards and regulations, overseeing state educational institutions, and allocating and supervising educational budgets.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
Subnational governments finance over 80% of total education spending.
2. Education resources to schools
Joint Education Development Project
Tajikistan is implementing a Joint Project supported by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), and the Islamic Development Bank to advance the 2021–2030 National Strategy for Education Development. A major component of the project is the construction and equipping of 73 schools. This initiative aims to improve access to education in underserved and rural areas, addressing infrastructure deficits and gender disparities, particularly among adolescent girls. The new schools will also function as demonstration sites for implementing competency-based education reforms.
Although Tajikistan’s education strategy emphasises equity and access, there is no clearly documented mechanism for direct, recurrent financing to schools with equity approaches. Reported budget figures are associated mainly with capital investment and project-based spending rather than equity-oriented school grants.
3. Education resources to students and families
No information has been found.
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Targeted Social Assistance (TSA)
The Targeted Social Assistance (TSA) programme is an unconditional cash transfer aimed at improving the well-being of the most vulnerable households. Recipients are selected using a proxy means test (PMT). TSA succeeded the Cash Compensation Programme (CCP), which has been gradually phased out since 2018. Under the 2017 Law on Targeted Social Assistance, TSA provides aid in two primary forms: monetary transfers and in-kind assistance. Monetary benefits are distributed quarterly and include both regular disbursements and one-time payments. As of 2021, the poorest families receive 480 somoni annually, divided into quarterly payments of 120 somoni from the national budget. In 2023, the World Bank approved a $35 million grant to modernise Tajikistan’s social protection systems, including TSA, providing one-time cash aid to 110,000 vulnerable families.
Non-Contributory Survivor Pensions
Complementing TSA, the government also provides non-contributory survivor pensions to children under 18—or up to 23 if enrolled in secondary or higher education—who have lost one or both parents and are not eligible for contributory pensions. The benefit is determined by the number of orphaned children in the family and whether one or both parents have died, ranging from 124.2 to 414 somoni per month.
5. School meal programmes
Tajikistan’s national school meal programme primarily targets primary school children. It operates across 52 districts, involving 6,000 technical staff in more than 16,000 public schools. According to the 2023 School Meal Commitment of the Ministry of Education and Science, the goal is to increase coverage of primary students to 50% by 2027. The programme is implemented collaboratively by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and the World Food Programme (WFP), with active involvement from parent-teacher associations and local authorities.
Financially, the school meal programme is supported by a combination of government allocations, local stakeholders, WFP funding, and key international donors. The 2022–2027 State Programme for the Development of School Meals incorporates multiple funding streams in its calculation of required financial support from the state budget. In addition to state funding, the programme factors in contributions from the WFP’s School Feeding Development Project, local executive authorities, and parental donations. Complementing these efforts, the 2023 School Meal Commitment of the Ministry of Education and Science notes that additional funds were allocated from the state budget in recent years.
