Equipping Tajikistan’s Youth: TVET Reform as a Path to Employment and Safer Migration

In a collaborative study led by the World Bank and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment (MoLME), and the Committee on Primary and Secondary Vocational Education, the report “The Road Home and Abroad: Enhancing TVET for Youth and Migrants in Tajikistan” offers a comprehensive diagnosis of Tajikistan’s education-to-employment pipeline. Drawing from nationwide surveys of training institutions and recent graduates, the study examines how Tajikistan’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system can help address chronic labor market underutilization, widespread migration, and structural skill mismatches.

The report is timely. Tajikistan’s economy has experienced rapid growth, with an 8.4 percent GDP growth rate in 2024 alone, driven by exports, public investment, and remittance-fueled consumption. Yet this economic progress has not translated into sufficient job creation. The private sector remains weak, the formal labor market absorbs just a fraction of workers, and gender disparities are pronounced. With nearly 150,000 new job seekers entering the market each year and only a fraction finding employment, migration has become a vital safety net. But most migrants are young men with low qualifications, working in low-paid, insecure jobs abroad, especially in Russia.

Migration-Fueled Growth, But With Limited Development Gains

Tajikistan is among the world’s most remittance-dependent countries, with inflows exceeding 50 percent of GDP in some years. These funds have been crucial for poverty reduction, particularly for rural and low-income households. But reliance on remittances comes at a cost. Migration is largely informal, with just 7 percent of workers using official channels. Migrants typically leave without formal training, language proficiency, or recognized credentials. Consequently, they are often trapped in menial labor roles with limited mobility, while the economy misses the opportunity to convert migration into lasting skills gains or entrepreneurial ventures.

Even more concerning is the underemployment of skilled workers. Many migrants with tertiary or vocational qualifications are unable to apply their skills abroad. Data from the 2023 Listen to Citizens of Tajikistan survey shows that over half of work-related migrants have only secondary education, and fewer than a third hold vocational or higher qualifications. On the other hand, returnees struggle with reintegration, as informal skills gained abroad are not formally recognized, and local job opportunities remain scarce. The cycle of migration thus becomes repetitive rather than transformative.

A TVET System in Transition, But Still Fragmented

Tajikistan’s TVET ecosystem, comprising Vocational Lyceums (VLs), Professional Colleges (PCs), and Adult Learning Centers (ALCs), has expanded over the years but still faces systemic weaknesses. A 2023 reform created a central committee to oversee VLs and PCs, aiming to unify the system. Still, ALCs remain under MoLME, and the coordination between these branches is weak. While the TVET system offers dual credentials (vocational qualification and secondary school diploma), most institutions operate with outdated equipment, insufficient digital access, and very limited funding.

Enrollment trends reflect gendered pathways. PCs, especially in health and teaching, are dominated by women, while VLs, which offer technical training in fields like construction and engineering, enroll mostly men. Adult Learning Centers focus on short-term skills training, including for returning migrants, but face major infrastructure and staffing gaps. Across all institution types, industry partnerships remain underdeveloped. Though 73 percent of institutions claim autonomy in designing new programs, less than half consult labor market data or employers when revising curricula. Green skills, entrepreneurship, and digital literacy remain patchily integrated, and only one in three institutions offers training aligned with the demands of environmentally sustainable sectors.

Graduation Outcomes Are Mixed, and Gendered

Data from the Graduate Survey reveal moderate success. Over two-thirds of TVET graduates said their training prepared them well for employment, and more than half reported working in a field related to their specialization. Public sector employment dominates, followed by education and a small share in the private sector or self-employment. Yet beneath this relative optimism lies a clear gender divide. Men tend to enter better-paid technical or managerial jobs, while women are concentrated in lower-paid sectors like nursing and primary education. The result is a 40 percent gender wage gap, despite comparable training and reported skill use.

Inclusivity is another weak link. Despite Tajikistan’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, less than one-third of TVET institutions have any inclusion strategy in place. Just 20 percent have made physical or curriculum adaptations for disabled learners, and most collect no data on disability status. Career guidance services, too, remain inadequate. While some institutions provide job counseling or soft-skills seminars, dedicated career centers are rare, and only a minority track graduate employment systematically.

Skilling Migration for a Global Labor Market

The study identifies an urgent need to better link TVET to Tajikistan’s migration trends. Currently, only 30 percent of institutions offer migration-specific training, usually limited to language courses. Few collaborate with employers in destination countries, and recognition of training abroad remains limited. ALCs offer some reintegration services, skills validation, entrepreneurship training, and psychological support, but only reach a small fraction of returnees. For example, just 292 returnees received such support in 2023.

Yet signs of progress exist. In 2024 alone, the government signed 41 bilateral labor agreements with countries like Qatar, Korea, and Japan. New destinations, however, require higher skill thresholds and certified qualifications. Initiatives such as the SC Korean Vocational Training Center in Dushanbe aim to prepare young Tajiks with language and technical skills for employment in South Korea. But these programs remain niche. Expanding partnerships with foreign TVET institutions, embedding language and soft-skills components in migration training, and creating internationally recognized certification pathways could help Tajikistan position its workers more competitively in global labor markets.