In 2021, the Director of the NGO that we work with in Tajikistan received permission from the central government of Tajikistan to take over private ownership of some land with an old school building on it. The understanding was that the Director would build an Early Childhood Center on this property after demolishing the old school. We had agreed to provide some seed money to get the project started and provided $20,000 for demolishing the old school and to develop the architectural plans for a modern ECD center.

Enhancing Early Childhood Education

Since the Director of the NGO has extensive experience in the educational field in Tajikistan (He worked for the NGO Open Society and now consults for the UN in Educational areas) and in the area of early childhood development, we have been able to improve the quality of the teaching at the ECD centers we support and other ECD centers run in government schools. This has been done by getting the teachers more updated training in EC education and working together to improve the facilities and to provide more relevant equipment, toys and books for the students to have meaningful experiences (instead of just being baby-sat).

A Landmark Endeavor

In our years of engagement, we felt that there was a need for a defining ECD Center in Rushan, one of the largest towns in Gorno Badakshan outside of Khorog. We had been working on securing land to build a state-of-the-art facility and with the grant of land from the government, we finally had an opportunity to move ahead in this area.

Visionary Architectural Plans

The architectural plans were prepared for the school. The final plans call for a three-story building with a very child friendly color scheme that will provide, not only for an Early Childhood Center, but will become the hub for training new teachers who will then be able to go into more remote locations to teach.

On Track for 2024 Launch

The building was completed in 2023 and is currently going through the permitting processes and government approval. We expect that this will all be completed in April. After that, the building will be fully furnished. Classes are expected to start in late August.