A chance for a better future. Adult education in the prison system in Central Asia

Abstract

Today it is hard to understand, what brought the human to the idea of imprisonment: punishment and hurting, use of convicted as cheap labour force or re-training of the violator. But in the 3rd Century one of the famous Rome lawyers wrote: “The prison should serve as a place of imprisonment not as one of a punishment”. United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners observes the convicted as personalities, being a part of the same society, which is existing outside penal institutions. Their return into the society’s life should be facilitated by providing opportunities for education, which could be continued after the release. During the last ten days DVV International gathered rich experience in the field of adult learning in the penitentiary system of Central Asia. The Author of the present article, Project Manager of those initiatives, describes the activity of DVV International in the field of Adult Education in the Penitentiary system on the example of three countries of Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Article contains approaches, methods and result of these actions.