Nine years after Turkmen President Saparmyrat Niyazov announced a plan to transfer schools to a nine-year system of study, education in the state remains alarmingly weak. The autocratic Niyazov, who tends to indulge in grand pronouncements, promised in 1993 that all children would undergo a full high school program and would have the opportunity to attend any higher learning institution in the world. At that time an estimated 860,000 children attended the schools of Turkmenistan, 71,000 attended technical schools and 40,000 attended higher learning institutions. Today, one-tenth that many students are estimated to be in Turkmen schools.

The sorry state of Turkmen education reflects the meager resources that Niyazov devotes to the schools. Without adequate money for facilities, many schools are now closed, and those left open are barely surviving. The majority of qualified teachers left the country in search of wages higher than the state's $25 to $39 monthly wage. Children are still using textbooks and supplies left over from the Soviet era, and all schools outside the capital are closed from September 1 through November 1. During this time, students and teachers around the country are busy harvesting cotton. Moreover, the government is laying off teachers, claiming there is a surplus of them and that they are simply wasting time. During 2000 and 2001, 11,000 teachers were reportedly released from Turkmen schools.

The dire state of education in Turkmenistan does not tend to register with most observers, because state authorities attempt to gloss over the problems. Currently the government reports a healthy state of education, though it has not updated literacy data since 1989. Meanwhile, the United States Agency for International Development has noted that the educational system has deteriorated in recent years. According to President Niyazov, academia in Turkmenistan is not on a lower level than that of European institutions. Niyazov's assertion plainly lacks credence.

Turkmen schools generally do not teach art, Russian and English, or offer athletic programs. (Niyazov claimed in a February 24 interview with Russia TV that students learn Russian from their first year in school and English from their fourth.) The shortened nine-year program emphasizes physics, chemistry and math. And the dominant project in the classroom, from kindergarten on, is the ideological cultivation of children. In all educational institutions children learn the oath of loyalty to President Niyazov in addition to studying his biography and his "holy" book of "Ruhnam."

This pseudo-religious education serves to reinforce Niyazov's grip on power in multiple ways. The majority of students in higher learning institutions are the children of government officials and wealthy families. Recently a new law has forbidden the admission of non-Turkmen ethnic groups to military or police academies. Niyazov is literally selecting his country's elites.

Bribery also plays an important role in admission to higher educational institutions. Payoffs range from $2,00 to $12,000 depending on the reputation of the school and the department, according to those with knowledge about the practice. The future success of a student does not depend upon knowledge acquired during years of study, but rather on his/her ability to pay professors for desired grades. There is a sort of tax on grades created by educators.

Citing the 35th Amendment of the Turkmen Constitution, President Niyazov has affirmed that educational institutions can function in a private capacity. However, in the early 1990's many institutions were effectively denied permission to launch their own private educational programs. Only private Turkish schools were permitted to open. Although the schools charge tuition, competition to get in is fierce. The government strictly supervises admission to these institutions. Tuition is not cheap either, ranging anywhere from $5 to $15 a month per child before fees, which parents tend to negotiate individually with school directors. Considering that most citizens earn between $8 and $30 month, and most families include between three to five children, very few can afford the luxury of educating their children in these schools.

This elitist system has predictable consequences for citizens who lack wealth or relatives in high places. However, it also hurts graduates who receive relatively worthless diplomas. Without a strong educational system, Turkmenistan is developing a massive underground economy, engaging in criminal behavior such as narcotics trafficking. Undereducated Turkmen youths are also more apt to drift into extremist causes, including participation in radical Islamic movements.