Lacking fuel, Tajikistan slides into darkness

TURDIBOBO, Tajikistan (AFP) – Twice a day, the students in this village school just outside the Tajik capital rush out of their classrooms bundled in layors of heavy winter clothing.

They aren’t running outside to play in the snow — they’re jockeying for position to warm their hands around the school’s only heater, which now comes on just twice a day.


‘Studies are not cancelled, kids are coming early, however not all of them are prepared for the lessons,’ said teacher Daler Yukavov. ‘The kids complain that they couldn’t do their home work because of the lack of electricity.’

The poorest of all the ex-Soviet Central Asian states with a population of 7.5 million, Tajikistan is in the midst of a massive energy crisis that has caused chronic shortages even in the capital Dushanbe.

Arab Times