Turkmenistan is among the leaders in implementing international commitments in the field of education
According to the conclusions of UNESCO, the world lags behind the schedule of universal education for more than 50 years. As follows from the World Monitoring Report on Education, only 12 countries, including Turkmenistan, by 2030 will fulfill their international commitments in the field of education. This list also includes Russia, South Korea, Georgia, Canada, Belarus, Czech Republic, Japan, Singapore, Slovakia, Armenia and Poland.
In Turkmenistan, according to the State Statistics Committee, as of the beginning of the 2017/2018 academic year, there are 1,860 secondary schools (1,852 schools at the beginning of the 2016/2017 school year), 1,203,900 schoolchildren are enrolled in them, which in comparison with the previous academic year has increased by 4.9%.
Of the total number of secondary schools, more than 66% are in rural areas, about 34% are in cities. The number of secondary schools, equipped with interactive multimedia equipment, is 90.8% of the total educational facilities. Teaching staff id is 77.4 thousand people. In 198 schools there are groups of extended day, which are visited by 30.9 thousand children.
Children with special mental, physical and psychological development are surrounded by special care and attention. Conditions have been created for their education in general educational institutions (inclusive education). There are 17 boarding schools with 3.9 thousand students for this category of children in the country.
There are 93 music schools and art schools in Turkmenistan. They are training 17,1 thousand children.
Secondary vocational schools are represented by 44 educational institutions (42 in 2016/2017 academic year), with more than 21 thousand students, of which 54.9% are girls.
In the 2017/2018 academic year, the number of applicants for admission to these schools was 15.9 thousand people, of which 8.3 thousand were admitted. Of the total number of students, 69.3% study on a fee basis. 6.6 thousand students (30.7%) receive a scholarship (regular, increased, nominal, for orphans or unionized).
There are 25 higher educational establishments in the country with 41.2 thousand students (8.4% more than in the 2016/2017 academic year). Of these, more than 37% are girls. In the 2017/2018 academic year, out of 38.1 thousand people wishing to enroll in higher education institutions, 9.4 thousand people were accepted. Out of the total number of students, 34.3 thousand people (83.2%) receive a scholarship (regular, increased, nominal, for orphans or unionized).
In a number of universities, students are enrolled both on budgetary and on tuition fee basis (in 17 universities). Out of the total number, 6.7 thousand people study on tuition basis.
The regions of the country also have branches and independent higher educational institutions - Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute named after S.Seydi (Turkmenabat), Turkmen State Energy Institute (Mary), Turkmen Agricultural Institute (Dashoguz).
The structure of the national higher education system was supplemented by a new institution - the Institute of Communal Services, which in 2017 accepted 400 young men and women.
In the conditions of Turkmenistan's integration into the world community, the digitalization and Internetization of the educational process is of great importance, along with the training of specialists who are fluent in foreign languages. At the University of Engineering Technologies of Turkmenistan named after Oguz Khan, the training is conducted in Japanese and English, at the International University for Humanities and Development - in English.
The number of pedagogical personnel in higher educational institutions at the beginning of the 2017/2018 academic year was 4.4 thousand people.
In May 2017, the government established a different procedure for the approval of foreign diplomas. The issue of studying at foreign universities at the expense of the state for pupils who graduated with honors was also considered. Now, applicants have the opportunity to enter prestigious universities in Europe, America and Asia.
In accordance with the interstate agreements of the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan and the sectorial ministries and departments, 1,281 people study abroad in the academic year 2017/2018.
