Turkmenistan – United Nations: co-operation in education

15 years of co-operation binds Turkmenistan and the United Nations. Dozens of the joint projects are implemented in the national educational system under the aegis of the United Nations

At present, the Projects Early Child Development and School of Friendly Attitude towards Children are successfully implemented in Turkmenistan in co-operation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the period of 2005-2009. The projects promote effective application of the modern educative methods of early children’s development, improve teachers’ professional skills and help the parents improve family upbringing.

The issues of family education along with the priority directions such as social and legal protection of children, improvement of the standards of education, spiritual and physical growth and development of younger generation are considered at the children’s forums organized in Turkmenistan by the UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Magtymguly Youth Organisation.

Turkmenistan fruitfully maintains co-operation with the UN Population Fund under the joint projects including “Information, Education and Communications on Reproductive Health”. Under the project the educational trainings were held for biology school teachers and the optional classes on the healthy lifestyle were delivered at 360 secondary schools throughout Turkmenistan in the last three years.

The information and resource centers that became the venue for the seminars and roundtables involving schoolchildren and teenagers from other educational establishments were opened under the aegis of the UN Population Fund in Turkmenistan at the primary organisations of the Women’s Union and the Magtymguly Youth Organisation throughout the country to propagate the healthy lifestyle. Each year the UNFPA in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan holds the children’s drawing contest. The themes are defined at the UNFPA headquarters.

The UN Representative Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Education implements the UNDP project “Information Sharing in Turkmenistan for Sustainable Human Development” (InfoTuk).

Through co-operation between the Ministry of Education and InfoTuk the computer network centers were opened at 20 schools in Ashgabat and Mary. The UNDP supplied the centers with new generation equipment.

On the eve of the 2007-2008 academic years the Supreme Council for Science and Technology under President of Turkmenistan connected the computer and networking centers to the national research and educational network created within the framework of the NATO Scientific Committee Project “Virtual Silk Road”. Thus, the schools were connected to the high-speed Internet provider.

The InfoTuk activity includes creating the special portal “Education” in the Internet under supervision of the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan. Using internet resources will give excellent opportunities for teachers to share knowledge in teaching and develop innovative and interesting classroom lessons. The administration of the schools will have every chance to invite teachers from other countries for short periods to conduct teacher training courses and to demonstrate best practices in teaching.