What it’s like to teach in… Tajikistan

When I left my remote village to attend college in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, I dreamed of becoming an English teacher in Tajik villages. But when I started teaching, I had problems with local attitudes: men told me it’s better if their wives are uneducated so they won’t be able to talk back or challenge them, even in the case of physical violence.

Realising the severity of the problem, I dedicated my work to women’s education. Slowly, I’ve changed local attitudes: first ensuring that girls can complete high school and, eventually, in 2014 integrating classrooms. English is key to female ...