The International Olympiad Becomes a Supermarket

On November 9, 2010 the principal of school #1 in Sarband, during the daily line-up, announced that on November 15th the International Olympiad will take place in our school. Those who pass all 3 rounds will be sent to Russia or Turkey to study for free at several universities. This scholarship and Olympiad are a great chance for Tajik students with good knowledge to study abroad. I was very excited about it and decided to participate in International Olympiad. All subjects which we study at school were presented on the competition. I chose to participate in English competition. I passed 2 rounds and got 82 out of 100 scores. This was the average score for passing the Olympiad. But unfortunately, I wasn’t sent anywhere. There were a lot of complaints and disagreements. When I appealed to the judges, the principal told me that if I pay $1500, then I can go and study in Russia or Turkey. But I come from a poor family. I can’t afford such expensive trips to those countries, or to study at a university. I was very upset, because I couldn’t believe that even at International Olympiad people make money of students. They sell scholarships to students like supermarkets sell food to the customers. It isn’t fair: smart and talented students should be accepted to universities and study for free, not for such an unacceptable amount of dollars (not somoni). After this Olympiad, I lost hope and interest in studying. If money solves everything, then I’ll never be able to get an education in a good university. But after awhile, I gathered all my force and I decided to try to apply to another university myself, without money, but with my knowledge!