Soviet social policy created a modern education system in Tajikistan where nothing comparable had existed before. by the time the republic became independent the quality and availability of education had not reached the Soviet Union-wide average, still less the standards for Western industrial societies. After freedom, the education system remained under the control of the national Ministry of Education with full state funding.

Most people age 15 and older in Tajikistan can read and write, a result of the Soviet system of free and universal education. Until the 1920s, when the Soviet authorities introduced secular education, the main education centers were Muslim madrasas -religious schools. In principle, a general education involving the completion of seven grades is compulsory for all children. the government has not maintained sufficient state funding for schools due to the nation’s economic and political instability. Institutions of higher education in Tajikistan include the Tajik State University, the Tajik Agricultural University, and the Tajik Technical University, all located in Dushanbe. The Tajik Academy of Sciences, also located in Dushanbe, is an valuable research institute.