On 8 January 2006 a fire destroyed the Chorog orphanage for intellectually disabled children in Gorki Street in Dushanbe. 13 children were killed in the blaze. The children who have survived were moved to a temporary home in a rehabilitation centre in Dushanbe.

Around the fire there have been a number of unverified rumors. The most striking is that the fire brigades only came one hour after the fire had started, although the staff claims they called immediately. The orphange was located in a central location in Dushanbe, close to the ministries and this might lead to the assumption held by different people that the place should actually be turned into money rather than to keep “valueless” children there.

Astonishingly, President Rahmanov himself took charge of this affair and accused members of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Furthermore, Rahmanov is now opting for a new nation-wide centre in the Varzob district for up to 300 disabled children which would also train staff and offer families to be close to their children. This centre will be located in a town about 20 km North of Dushanbe. It will be built with the strategic support of UNICEF and other International Organisations.

Despite of the tragic event the resulting effects seem to be rather positive. But there are a number of reasons why the plan to build a new centre for disabled children is a rather worrying development.

• Exclusion of disabled children: All over Tajikistan there are 90 boarding schools (internats). Many of these are for disabled children. The conditions in these internats are grim. The buildings are in a bad state, often without electricity and gas. For food there is an allocation of about 50 Dirham ($ 0.15 Cent) per day and child. Still the boarding school system occupies financial resources that could be used in a more efficient way how a study commissioned by the World Bank in 2000 showed (PDF file). The children are mainly from the region where the boarding schools are located but some children come from remote regions. In some internats the teachers are not paid on a regular basis. The situation in the internats is an indicator of the inability of the Tajik government to fullfil its obligations it commited to in the UN Convention for the Rights of the Children. One way to improve the situation would be to provide proper funding. Amidst the cash-starved Tajik economy, the government should develop a plan of de-institutionalisation of internats and changing the schools system in a way so that it would be possible to provide schooling in the communities where the disabled children live.
• Not tackling the underlying issues of disability in Tajikistan: Like in any other country, disability is a complex phenomena. Disabled people and their families face stigma and discrimination. To improve the sitation of disabled people it is necessary to provide sufficient training of professionals, change the assessment procedures for disabled people and change the attitude of the wider public.