Polarization During Institutional Decline: Variation in Educational Attainment in Post-Soviet Central Asia in 1991–2006

Abstract

This article investigates the contours of inequality in the context of institutional decline and polarization in educational attainment. Using household survey data collected in 2005–2006 by UNICEF, we conduct synthetic cohort analyses estimating the likelihood of transitioning to secondary and higher education for men and women; urban and rural residents; poor and wealthy; and ethnic majority and minority citizens. Overall, gender and ethnic differences appear to contribute most to the polarization, although poverty and rural residence play a role in some contexts.

Notes

1 A fifth Soviet Republic, Turkmenistan, is not addressed in this study as household data were unavailable. Clement (2011) is an excellent source to review for information on Turkmenistan.

2 Mickelwright’s (1999) work, which attempted to investigate differences in the postsocialist region as a whole, is an excellent example of the treatment typically received by peripheral republics. His work addresses patterns in the region using sophisticated analyses of data from Eastern Europe and Russia, while data from peripheral republics are only addressed in general summative graphs and tables, which in some ways is justified by the lack of quality data from the peripheral republics at the time.

3 Titular ethnic groups are the dominant ethnic group in the state for which it is named. For example, Kazakhs are the titular ethnic group of Kazakhstan.

4 While this is in law, in practice families pay significant amounts of money to provide an education.

5 Geographic regions include Western (Republic of Karakalpakstan and Khorezm oblast); Central (Bukhara, Navoi, and Samarkhand oblasts); Southern (Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya oblasts); Central-Eastern (Jjizzakh, Syrdarya, and Taskentskaya oblasts); Eastern (Andizhan, Namangan, and Fergana oblasts); Tashkent city.

6 It is important to note that the MICS does not ask for the highest level completed, only the highest level attended. Thus, there could be discrepancies in actual completion rates because not all adults who attended a certain level of schooling completed that level.