FORCED GAIETY AND DOG-EARED ENGLISH BOOKS IN MARY WELAYAT

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001094

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY),SCA/PPD, EUR/ACE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ETRD TX TNGD KPAO ECON
SUBJECT: FORCED GAIETY AND DOG-EARED ENGLISH BOOKS IN MARY WELAYAT


SUMMARY
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1. (U) Emboff and P/E Assistant traveled to Mary Welayat (province)
September 21-22 as part of mission trips to Turkmenistan's welayats
to learn about education and cotton. The short, host
government-structured trip consisted of visits to School #1, School
#15 and to Mary's Agricultural Joint-Stock Company. The school
visits confirmed suspicions that teachers lack adequate materials to
teach English effectively and have little power over lesson content
and structure due to ever-increasing political pressure within the
education sector. The meeting at the Mary Agricultural Joint-Stock
Company yielded what post believes to be accurate expectations about
the coming year's even more disappointing cotton yields and crop
distribution, and the official line on last year's disappointing
harvest and subsequent government subsidies. End Summary.

MARY: READY AND WAITING TO DEFLECT OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE
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2. (U) The trip began with a visit to specialized school #1 in Mary
city, where Emboff and LES were regaled at the entrance to the
school with a proclamatory reading from the Ruhnama by a band of
uniformed and smiling seven-year-old students. The stiffness and
artificiality of the greeting set the tone for the visit to both
schools, during which Emboff was shepherded by the Ministry of
Education's top welayat-level representative ("oblano") Tanryguly
Myratlyev; welayat hakimlik administrative officer Ashyr Charyevich;
and Ministry of Foreign Affairs chaperone Azat Niyazmuhammedov.
Despite the elaborate welcome at School #1, Myratlyev seemed
prepared for a grilling from Emboff and responded quickly and
extensively to all questions. The oblano interpreted Emboff offers
of resource and specialist assistance in English teaching as a
criticism, stating more than once that this school and all others in
the region are exceptionally well-equipped, that the level of
education was as high as it could be and that all teachers and
pupils in the region were grateful to the "Great Leader" - President
Saparmurat Niyazov - for his care.


3. (U) According to the oblano, there are 27 schools in Mary
Welayat, two of which are specialized - one laying an emphasis on
technical subjects and School #1, which teaches German. There are
1300 students in School #1, and 80 teachers, 60 of which, the oblano
was quick to point out, had higher education. School #15 has 1050
students, 40% of which are ethnic Russian. A similar percentage
holds true for the school's teachers. The oblano volunteered that
there were enough schools in Mary that every child had a short walk
to school, which did not explain how specialized schools might be
selective about admitting students from various regions of Mary.

MARY SCHOOLS HAVE ALL THE BASICS AND MORE!
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4. (U) The oblano and school directors declared that Turkmenistan's
schools provided exceptional sports and arts education and extensive
extracurricular activities. The basic curriculum also includes
math, sciences, English, Turkmen and Russian language classes and a
mandatory class on the Ruhnama. School #15 had its curriculum
painted on a wall in its entry foyer.


5. (U) Both schools are part of InfoTuk, a UN-sponsored program
that provides computers, basic computer training and ultimately
Internet connectivity to select state schools across Turkmenistan.
(Note: The InfoTuk program thus far extends to 10 secondary schools
in Ashgabat and Mary, n one of which have Internet access. End
Note.) Emboff was ushered with pride into the School #1 computer
classroom, which had about ten computers, and into the two computer
labs in School #15, each of which had at least six computers.

CLASSROOM TOUR: LIVING THE GOLDEN AGE
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6. (U) Emboff visited several classrooms, including those for
Ruhnama, Russian, Turkmen and English, a library, computer lab, gym
and the cafeteria. Students in each classroom stood at attention
and recited a short greeting in English as if apprised beforehand of
this "inspection." The teachers in the classrooms appeared nervous
and avowed their gratitude at Emboff's visit. Each classroom
contained a Ruhnama corner or space on a classroom wall with a
quotation from the book and pictures of the president or members of
his family. The small one-room school library was filled with books
in Russian or Turkmen written in Cyrillic and samples of the
president's own works.


7. (U) The director of School #15 took Emboff down the "Ruhnama
Hall," which was decorated with bas-relief open books depicting
scenes from the Ruhnama with explanatory quotations below each
scene. The school received last year's prize for best Ruhnama
exhibit among schools in Mary.

ENGLISH TEACHING: TEACHERS WITHOUT RESOURCES
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8. (U) In response to Emboff's request to speak to teachers at
School #1, the school director brought six visibly nervous English
teachers into the director's office and told them to present
themselves to Emboff. All of the teachers brought to meet Emboff
had a higher degree in English but most spoke in labored English.
(Note: Peace Corps Volunteers and LES at post report that English
teachers frequently possess only elementary English themselves. End
Note.) The teachers reiterated the party line that they needed
nothing from the Embassy or its partners, although they frequently
looked to their director and the oblano for reassurance that their
tack was correct. One teacher - the only male - broke from the
script and suggested that the embassy set up a library of English
language materials within the school for sustaining a school English
club. Emboff urged the teacher to contact the embassy for
information on how to do this, but did not press the point for fear
of endangering the teacher, who had startled the school director by
speaking up.


9. (U) The host government sets the curriculum for both regular and
specialized state schools, and develops all textbooks. (Note:
Post's primary working contact at the Ministry of Education, Nury
Bayramov, has written at least one of the textbooks used in
secondary schools; his English is poor. End Note.) Emboff spotted
a heavily used copy of the Peace Corps Turkmenistan-produced TEFL
Resources for Teachers in the English classroom viewed at School
#15, but few other textbooks. (Note: In response to a stated need
from local teachers, the American Corner in Mary has visited most
schools in Mary and conducted training on use of this resource. End
Note.)

COTTON HARVEST 2006: AVOIDING LAST YEAR'S MISTAKES
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10. (U) Following the school visits Emboff and LES paid a visit to
the Mary Agricultural Joint-Stock Company, where a discussion with
Company Director Mr. Yazdurdyev included the requisite positive spin
about crop yields, sales prospects and farmers' attitudes toward
government policy.


11. (U) The company controls about two-thirds of the 180,000
hectares of land planted with cotton in Mary Welayat, with the Mary
Textile Complex controlling the other 48,000 hectares of cotton
fields. Of this about a quarter of the Company's crop is fine fiber
cotton, which fetches 20,000 manats (about 80 cents)/kg raw or
40,000 manats (about $1.60)/kg as fiber; regular cotton fetches half
the price of fine cotton. All cotton is sold on the cotton exchange
at fixed prices, which have risen over last year's because of host
government attempts to encourage farmers to harvest more cotton than
they did last year. Farmers should be paid in December 2006.


12. (U) The company's representatives insisted that all cotton
sales were already accounted for, with companies such as Reinhart,
Olam, Dunavant, based in Germany and Switzerland, buying most of the
crop. The company's representatives acknowledged the difficulties
in the harvest payment terms during 2005 but were positive that 2006
would be different (Comment: 2006 is worse. End Comment). This
year, the AJSC had to use letter of credit terms. Next year, buyers
will be willing to make advance payments, because "they now know
us."


13. (U) There are 46,000 tenants working by contract with the
company, and the company said there are growing numbers of families
in Mary who grow cotton on their personal lands because it is
profitable. Hand-picking is preferred for the harder-to-harvest
fine cotton; the company uses both hand-picking and combines for
harvesting. After the meeting, Ashyr Charyevich took Emboff on a
tour of two nearby cotton fields -- one that had been sown with
mostly fine and some regular cotton, and the other with regular
cotton. In the latter there was a family with a mother and a couple
of her children hand-picking the cotton. (Note: The Mary American
Corner's planned TEFL Resources training for the teachers of
Turkmengala region is on hold in October because teachers around
Mary are required to help harvest cotton at this time. End Note.)


COMMENT
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13. (U) While trying to present a united front against embassy
outreach efforts, the education officials and teachers Emboff met in
Mary revealed the stark fear under which they daily operate, in
contrast with representatives at the much more relaxed atmosphere
Agricultural Joint-Stock Company meeting. Subsequent to the day's
meetings, Azat Niyazmuhammedov told FSN that he had hinted to
Emboff's hosts that they should "show true Mary hospitality" -- an
exhortation that likely resulted in the embarrassingly forced
display of welcome at Schools #1 and #15. At the end of the visit
to School #1, the school director took a framed photo montage off
the wall in her office and showed it with aggressive pride to
Emboff: it was a collage of photograph cutouts depicting President
Niyazov and children from the school on the tarmac at Mary Airport.
Although a clearly fabricated "photograph," the Director took pains
to point out details in the farcical photo to Emboff and proclaim
that the Great Leader had graced the school with a visit -- evidence
of the president's high regard for education. Clearly the anxiety
with which administrators try to cover up a lack of materials and
access to modern teaching methods reveals that the opposite is true.
End Comment.


14. (U) Dushanbe minimize considered.

BRUSH