The Changing Tapestry in Central Asia
Shams Alibhai was the Chief Executive Officer for Aga Khan Education Services in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. She spent seven years setting up two private-sector schools in those countries. Shams has since returned to Canada and lives in Vancouver, where she works as an independent consultant. In the spring of 1997, I left my position in Ottawa with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada for a new posting in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. I had previously traveled to the region in 1995 and I knew that personal safety was a concern. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, a civil war broke out and lasted for more than five years. By the time a peace accord was finally signed in the summer of 1997, the war had claimed over 50,000 lives and up to 200,000 people had been displaced. As part of the rebuilding effort, the governments of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan requested the Aga Khan Development Network to establish Aga Khan Schools in the region. The creation of these schools would be my raison d’être for the next seven years.
I chose to work in Central Asia for many reasons. I had studied this region while focusing on Islamic Studies for my Master of Art’s degree at McGill University. I had read about the great Muslim civilization in Bukhara and Samarkhand in the ninth and tenth centuries. This civilization was renowned for the development of Islamic science, art and culture. I had read of the great physician Ibn Sina, al Biruni, the mathematician and poets such as Firdawsi, the composer of the Shah Nameh. The cities and persons were part of an ancient history and the opportunity to travel and live in these towns was very exciting. The former Soviet Union had been inaccessible and there were few outsiders who had traveled to the region, let alone lived there. Finally, there was the great challenge of setting-up institutions promoting civil society and to be part of the rebuilding effort in a newly independent nation.
The Challenges
Travel to and within the region was the first significant hurdle. None of the international air carriers flew directly to Dushanbe. The major airlines only flew from Europe to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, or to Almaty in Kazakhstan and to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Once in country, travel to the rural areas was possible, weather permitting. Even then, it usually involved long, arduous road journeys. For example, the journey from Dushanbe to Khorog – about a one-hour flight – is a 14 to17-hour jeep ride.
Communication was the most difficult challenge. Central Asia is a multilingual context: Turkish is the root language for Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Kazakh languages, and Persian is the root language for Tajiki. The lingua franca is Russian, spoken throughout the former Soviet Republics. Everyone speaks Russian in small towns and big cities alike. This includes the vendors in the bazaar, the farmer in a small village, or a schoolteacher. Foreigners speaking Russian are immediately welcomed since it is the language of the ‘educated elite’. My Farsi was definitely useful, yet Tajiki is quite different from the Eastern Iranian languages predominant in the Pamir regions. Farsi is also very different to Kyrgyz.
All communication – verbal, written and non-verbal – is formal and structured. There is a ‘ritual’ and ‘unwritten’ code of conduct. The code applies in various situations: greeting a person on the street, attending a meeting with government officials, or going to a colleague’s home. The code implies certain behaviour that defines relationships between genders, between people of different ages and people from different occupations in society. A person’s age, gender, occupation and position also determines their status.
Community elders, persons in position of authority and professionals, such as teachers, are highly respected. Society values wisdom, knowledge, experience and authority. Individuals from outside the country are viewed as ‘guests’ and shielded from knowing the ‘whole’ context or reality. I often struggled to understand many issues since information was shared selectively.
The mountain ranges – the Pamirs, the Alai, and Tian Shan – isolate the region and contributed to the communication challenges; few people have traveled outside the former Soviet Union and there is a wariness of different ideas.
Changing Times
The state influences all aspects of people’s lives. There is a continued expectation for it to be the primary provider. It regulates the economy and the provision of social services. However, the government no longer has the resources to execute this function. Moscow had always played a pivotal role in the economy of Tajikistan. By 2001, the Tajik economy had shrunk to half the size it was a decade earlier, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. People’s livelihoods were turned upside down. There was a significant drop in household incomes and unemployment became rampant, especially among the youth. The majority of the people lived below the poverty line. Given this context, my first two years (1998-1999) were an intensive learning experience that sometimes proved to be overwhelming. The society was in flux and chronic uncertainty created a tense environment.
Post-Soviet Conditions
One of the benefits of the Soviet system was a high literacy rate – over 95% – given its provision of universal access to education. Going to school, including university, was free under Soviet rule. Given the upheavals described above, the education sector mirrored the broader national reality of limited resources; schools no longer had money available for capital investment, furniture, supplies or books. There was barely enough money for teachers’ salaries.
Following the signing of the Peace Accord, a few non-governmental organizations (NGO) were providing humanitarian assistance to the poorest and most isolated areas of Tajikistan. The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) began working with local NGOs in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). They provided basic items such as glass for school windows, blackboard paint, chalk and paper and started collaborating with the government on teachers’ professional development. A separate component of the AKDN’s initiative was to establish private schools to model best practices in education. Aga Khan Schools began operating in Zanzibar and India at the turn of the century, and today there are more than 300 schools in eight countries in the developing world. Aga Khan Education Service (AKES), a non-denominational and non-profit organization, manages the schools. The aim is to offer models and best practices in school management, teacher and curriculum development, facilities and resources, and information technology.
In Central Asia, non-state interventions were very new, not only in the commercial sector, but especially in the provision of social services. The idea of institutions functioning independently from the state that were creative, self-sufficient, and perhaps sustainable, was revolutionary. My role was to demonstrate in practice an alternative and different choice in education. My challenge was to convince my colleagues of the values of merit-based student and teacher evaluation, of principles of student-centered learning, accountability, inclusiveness, planning, budgeting, transparency and consultative decision-making. In turn, I would learn to see the value and place of rote learning, hierarchical structures, a strong bureaucracy, and many more things.
Working with the Community
My local colleagues carried on with the daily routine of managing schools. The principal at the school, Davlat Khudonazarov, and the deputy directors Mansur Mansurov, Haider, Nozigul and Sardorbek persevered. They undertook their daily tasks with commitment, determination and great inner strength. In part, this strength came from the strong community support and networks. The community is made-up of individual families – usually six to eight people in each household – and extended families. The second component is the mahalla; a cluster of houses within a specific geographical area. This creates a close-knit relationship between neighbours and neighbourhoods. The leaders of the mahallas play a significant leadership role as do the caliphas, the religious leaders. The mahallas bond the community, foster communal identity, and act as moral mentors and censors. This structure is a component of both rural and urban life not only in GBAO, but also in Dushanbe and Osh in Kyrgyzstan.
Religious tradition is an integral component of the communities. In spite of the absence of mosques and any formal places of congregation, individuals gather with their neighbours for the Jumah Namaz (Friday prayer). There are also religious ceremonies conducted on special occasions such as births, deaths and weddings. Depending on the occasion, there would be poetry, perhaps of a devotional nature, such as qasidahs; recited songs, music and dance.
I attended many such occasions and came to love the slow and rhythmic traditional music and dancing. The joy, generosity, and the soul of the people came alive. The sea change around seemed far away and everyone participated. In spite of my coming from a very different world-view, I shared the practice of the faith with colleagues. In GBAO, we were all Muslims from a similar tradition: Shiah Ismaili.
The social occasions provided an opportunity to know my colleagues more intimately, and to build a relationship outside our defined roles. Never the less, my ambiguous status (an unaccompanied woman) made it difficult to have close relationships with my colleagues. Many were not quite certain how to respond to a ‘young woman’ that was ‘rocking the boat’. I came to understand the meaning of ‘it’s lonely at the top’.
Step by step
As time went by, I became more comfortable and gained greater insight. The complexities and daunting tasks became more manageable. The building of the second Aga Khan School in Osh, Kyrgyzstan – a purpose-built school – was a different challenge. The experience gained in Tajikistan provided valuable expertise for the second time round. The context was different, not as isolated as Tajikistan, and more receptive given the presence of several private schools in Osh and Bishkek.
The investment in physical buildings, computer labs, resources, supplies and books is leading to fundamental changes in teaching and learning practices. The 1,200 students enrolled in the two schools are utilizing Internet access and new resources to become independent learners and thinkers. They are also becoming critical of their teachers! They are broadening their aspirations; many students would like to attend the English-medium University of Central Asia.
The teachers are working in two and three languages: Tajik, Russian and English. They are computer literate and able to teach new subjects such as Information Technology and Market Economics. Slowly, after substantial professional development and mentoring by Tajik, Kyrgyz, Pakistani and Canadian teachers, there is change in the teacher-centered environment. Presently, the two schools are collaborating with five government schools in the districts of GBAO and reaching out to more than 2,500 students.
Coming Home
I returned to Vancouver in June 2004. I had originally signed a contract for two years and seven years had gone by. I had no idea I would stay so long. Upon my return, a friend asked the question: “Many people who work overseas return a different person, with life-changing experiences. Is this applicable to you?” I replied “Yes”. I learnt a great deal about myself. Over the years, I often felt myself pushed to my limits; sometimes I responded well, and sometimes not so well. The biggest transformation is that I have a different ‘reference point’; I look at so many things in Vancouver with different eyes. The things that I now value and appreciate are simple and yet profound: peace, security, stability and acceptance as a Canadian, an ‘insider’.
Ismailimail 