High-school and university students are getting more and more ‘excited’ about the upcoming examination period. Exams and tests usually start at end of May or early June. For some people it is going to be a period of sleepless nights but for others just a period of “money-spending”.

Today it is not a big secret that the salary our teachers and professors receive is not enough for living. One should be a complete altruist to be satisfied with this amount of money. Obviously, it is one of the root causes of the corruption at educational institutions. But does this justify the fact that teachers and professors claim money for grades?

I asked my friend about his exams yesterday and was quite surprised when he calmly told me that it would cost him around 150-200 US dollars to get to the next course. It seems like our teaching staff and students have some kind of mutual understanding. Most of the students do not mind paying considerable amount of money to take their exams and pass this “sleepless period” having a good sleep every night.

Actually, it is a bit scary since soon people may start considering bribery as something normal – a way out - if you do not want to break your brains. I find this unacceptable. It was ridiculous when the anticorruption agency arrested a poor teacher from a remote district for a bribery demonstrating their competence a while ago. It is clear that by punishing those teachers who were not cautious enough, our government will not solve the problem. Their activity leaves an impression that corruption is fought only at hospitals or schools while corrupted officials stay untouched.

I understand that by making such loud statements about fighting corruption our government simply wants to improve its image on the international arena. That is exactly why we take one of the leading positions on the list of the most corrupted countries. Corruption in Tajikistan is a “system” problem as many specialists say and it should be addressed systematically. One thing is clear - bribery goes far beyond our schools and universities and is never justified.