KHUJAND, March 28, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- A court in the northern city of Khujand has passed sentence on local woman whose children failed for months to attend school.

The Khujand city court imposed a fine of 4,000 somoni on Tatiana Oleynikova, whose three children missed school for several months.

Ms. Oleynikova has applied for help to the Khujand-based Human Rights Center.  The Center chairperson Tatiana Khatyukhina says they will help Ms. Oleynikova appeal against the sentence.

“As far as the sentence is concerned, I consider that it is too severe for single mother, who does not have regular work and source of income,” Ms. Khatyukhina said.

“I have three children and I am keeping going, tutoring children in the Russian language.  My husband died in December,” said Ms. Oleynikova.  “I have never prevented my children from attending school.  But I am not in a position to buy my children clothes and school accessories.” 

The local authorities say the constitution obliges parents to enable their children to attend school and that all children between the ages of seven and 16 must do so.

Azam Kholmirzoyev, the head of the Sughd commission for child’s rights, says four criminal proceedings have been instituted this year under the provisions of Article 164 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – preventing pupils from obtaining basic secondary education, which is punishable by a fine in the amount of 1,000 minimum wages or two years in prison.

According to him, they are currently carrying out work to reveal children who miss school because of the difficult economic situation of their families.  “We prepare lists of such children and handover them to city and district administrations in order that allowances will be paid to them,” Kholmirzoyev added.