Hundreds of young people seeking to be admitted to higher educational establishments abroad and continuing education at foreign universities who are staying at home during the summer holidays are being prevented from leaving Turkmenistan. Following the whims of public officials rather than on legal grounds, the authorities decided that Turkmenistani citizens are allowed to study abroad only in state-run universities. They are not entitled to study in other educational establishments.

I will not elaborate on the fact that the present moves by the authorities violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is self-explanatory. Moreover, they are not in line with the proclaimed statements and decisions made by the country’s leaders.

According to Berdymukhammedov, the educational reform, initiated by the new President after his rise to power was supposed to breed a new generation of highly-educated Turkmen young intellectuals and thus resolve the shortage of highly skilled workforce. The reform envisaged a maximum increase in the number of students including study-abroad Turkmen students. Amendments to the Constitution envisage that “state-run and non-governmental organizations as well individuals are allowed to offer educational services on a fee-paid basis”. In other words, the establishment of non-governmental educational institutions is permitted!

This resulted in the present absurd situation. In Turkmenistan it is permitted to set up private educational institutions but the residents of Turkmenistan are barred from studying in non-governmental universities abroad.

Traditionally, there were no official reports about the upcoming changes. Out of the blue hundreds of young boys and girls holding visas and tickets to leave the country to pursue educational opportunities were stopped from leaving the country. They were held up by the border personnel who referred to the instructions they had received. Every passing day the number of those prevented from traveling abroad is on the rise. All of a sudden the expectations and hopes cherished by young people and their parents were crushed. The authorities did not provide any explanatory comments on the situation in the mass media. At the same time, the Turkmen television reiterates the following: “In Turkmenistan, people are the most valuable assets to the society and state”.

After a series of publications posted on our website and the TIHR statement, we have received numerous feedback and requests for assistance to help people leave the country. Below are some excerpts (uncensored):

“The qualified teaching staff was abolished and now they want us to study in our home country… For instance, tuition fees are much lower in Russia and the quality of education is much better than in the local state-run universities where bribery and a poor level of expertise among teaching staff are rampant ....”;

“Hello, I am a Turkmen citizen. I came to Turkmenistan for my summer holidays from the city of Penza in Russia. I would like to ask you to solicit assistance from the UN and the European Union. Please help. I cannot leave the country”;

“This is nonsense! How do they dare to act like this? I was planning to come home in September. Now I have changed my mind”;

“My husband is of Turkmen ethnicity, I am Georgian by background. We are living in Turkey. I am 8 weeks pregnant. He left for Turkmenistan to obtain a new passport, but he cannot go back due to this stupid ban. I am an expectant mother and I do not see a solution.  He is not allowed to leave the country. I do not know what to do... There must be a provision in the migration law which would regulate such situations. I apologize, I am a Georgian citizen, but if a Turkmen female resident was in my place and her husband was banned to leave, how would the rights of this woman be protected in Turkmenistan? There is no future for the country if such laws exist...”;

“This is absolutely outrageous! KIMEP and KAU are prestigious universities and their graduates are reportedly in demand all over the world except Turkmenistan. This is ridiculous!”;

“I completed three years of studies at a higher educational establishment in Kazakhstan. I am now not permitted to go back. I rent an apartment there and have already paid my rent. All my belongings and documents are there… Indeed, if my knowledge, skills and my diploma are not needed in my home country, I could then find a job in another country. This is my right! I pay the tuition fees out of my own pocket”.

“All organizations should be called upon to draw their immediate attention to the absurd move initiated by the Turkmen government.... According to my sources, about 1000 students cannot cross Turkmenistan’s border”.

There are dozens of similar messages like these. One can imagine the indignation of hundreds of young people who were found guilty but did nothing wrong. To be more precise, according to the country’s leaders they are being blamed for seeking educational possibilities abroad, though at their own expense.  

According to our sources, this story surfaced in May. Back then, before the end of the academic year, the commissions from the regional offices of the Education Ministry conducted a survey among school graduates. According to the results, out of those who intended to seek admission to institutes of higher education, only one fifth wished to study in Turkmen educational establishments, whereas the remaining school leavers (about 80%) preferred to study abroad. 

There are several reasons behind this:   

- In the present academic year the Turkmen higher schools will be enrolling only 4275 applicants (excluding military schools), and in addition 1698 persons will be admitted to secondary special and vocational schools. According to official statistics, about 115 thousand graduates finished secondary schools this year. Moreover, there are school graduates from previous academic years who failed to be enrolled before but are willing to be admitted this year. In other words, the Turkmen educational establishments are able to admit only an extremely limited number of students;

- Low level of expertise among the teaching staff in Turkmen schools of higher education and consequently poor academic knowledge among students;

 - Corruption. A bribe of 20 thousand US dollars is required to be enrolled in the State University or National Economy Institute. The amount is slightly lower in other universities. To be able to secure a spot at a vocational educational establishment (teacher training or medical vocational schools) the applicant should “grease a palm” and pay 10 to 15 thousand dollars in bribes. As is evident, the demonstrational reprimand of a bribe-taker by the President in the National Institute of World Languages did not remedy the problem of corruption in education. For this reason most parents of school graduates believe that it is considerably cheaper for their son or daughter to study in a private university abroad and pay tuition fees than in a state-run Turkmen higher schools.

The trouble is that the authorities do not agree with the above-mentioned reasons. After receiving the shocking information that local school graduates prefer foreign universities, the Ministry of Education got alarmed.

Needless to say, the efforts of the Ministry of Education alone would be sufficient to prevent the young people from leaving the country. The initiative belongs to them. In their turn, higher ranking authorities involved the border personnel, Migration Services and later on the Ministry of Defense in their attempt to “resolve the issue”.

This resulted in a situation which would never occur in a civilized country where laws are respected and the interests of the state are taken into account.  

Those students, who did not go home for the summer holidays, are considered lucky. The majority of them decided not to return to Turkmenistan, at least before they complete their course of study and receive a diploma.

To some extent those who intended to enter state-run universities abroad were also fortunate. After several nerve-wracking days, contacting numerous offices, standing in hours-long lines to obtain relevant documents and changing tickets’ dates they finally managed to exit the country.  

Those who are currently studying in private universities abroad or plan to apply for admission were not so lucky. They were not allowed to leave and had to stay at home with a question which remain unanswered -  “Why did our home country punish us?”

Once Berdymukhammedov’s predecessor, S. Niyazov, referring to the study-abroad students said: “Those people are no longer part of our community. They are ignorant of the Rukhnama.” Afterwards, several measures had been taken to urge the youth to attend universities in the home country or stop them from studying elsewhere. One such measure was not acknowledging diplomas issued by foreign universities.

Niyazov feared that the young Turkmen residents when abroad would feel the taste of freedom, be exposed to democracy and become skeptical about the policy pursued by the Turkmen authorities.  

What do the present-day authorities of Turkmenistan fear by imposing an exit ban on students pursuing educational opportunities abroad? Do they fear the same thing Niyazov was afraid of?