Sanly Bilim in Turkmenistan: An Illusion of Progress or a Genuine Attempt at Digital Education?

With the start of the new academic year in Turkmenistan, the Innovation Information Center of the Ministry of Education has launched the digital platform ‘Sanly Bilim’ (Digital Education). It is a primary web portal and mobile application offering access to various complimentary educational platforms such as e-mekdep, e-bakja, e-kitaphana, and ukyply. The state media promotes the initiative as a major step towards developing a digitally literate youth, while platforms pride themselves in helping parents, children, and educators in managing enrollment, attendance, grades—from kindergarten to university.

While the Turkmen government touts ‘Sanly Bilim’ as a landmark achievement in digital education, it is worth noting that neighboring Kazakhstan integrated e-Education into its e-Government platform nearly two decades ago. This contrast raises a crucial question: in a country where information is tightly controlled by a centralized, autocratic government, can such digital platforms truly deliver benefits to their users?

Digital Education and Connectivity Challenges in Turkmenistan

In 2017, Turkmenistan adopted a National Concept for Digital Education to modernize teaching and expand online learning. The National Concept is not available to the public.  It established the Center for Innovative Information and promoted blended learning across all levels. The government claimed that 82% of schools were equipped with computer labs in 2017. Yet major challenges persist, including limited digital literacy, low investment, weak infrastructure, restricted Internet access, and limited public awareness – outlined below.

1. Limited Digital Education and Low Budget Allocation

Firstly, digital literacy in Turkmenistan is limited with only 68.6% of youth and adults having ICT skills in 2021. The proportion of schools offering internet access for educational purposes was merely at 37.2% in 2022, with high disparities between urban – 64.4% and rural – 23.3% schools.

Meanwhile, it is unclear how much Turkmenistan spends on education. According to UNICEF, in 2023 Turkmenistan allocated 4.7% of GDP to education while the World Bank and UNESCO report a much lower figure of 2.7%. Both estimates remain well below what its regional peers spend on education. For example, in 2023 the Kyrgyz Republic spent 6.8% of its GDP on education, followed by Uzbekistan (5.5%), Tajikistan (5.4%), and Kazakhstan 4.8%. Turkmenistan’s education expenditure is also below the World Bank’s recommended target of 4-6% of GDP.

2. Underdeveloped Telecommunications Infrastructure

Turkmenistan has one of the regions’ least developed telecommunication systems – only 80% of people have mobile connections, and internet access remains restricted. Average internet speed is 4.1 Mbps, compared to 31.81 Mbps in Kazakhstan and 24.95 Mbps in Kyrgyzstan. The Internet is also among the most expensive in the region, costing about $21.41 per 1 Gigabyte or  $213.8 per month while the average salary is merely $65.60 at the black market exchange rate.

Internet access is not just restricted – it is systematically engineered to suppress access to information, global Internet and control digital expression, with over 122,000 domains blocked, including those with educational services such as Wikipedia, Zoom, GitHub and online libraries. Moreover, Internet censorship circumvention tools such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are also regularly blocked. Hence, combination of high cost, slow connectivity, and systematic censorship and blockage makes online learning platforms such as Sanly Bilim difficult to use effectively, particularly outside urban areas.

3. Limited Public Awareness and Platform Reach

The Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan maintains no social media presence, relying solely on its official website. Media coverage of Sanly Bilim has been minimal, limited to a few state-run outlets between September 2024 and 2025, with no public advertisting – only institutional promotion.

While the state presents Sanly Bilim as a key instrument for improving educational outcomes nationwide, its reach appears limited. Most posts on Sanly Bilim’s website – such as competition announcements or news – received only 30 to 300 views, reflecting both low public engagement and limited trust in government-led initiatives. These platforms require an active Turkmen phone number for registering, logging in, and continual use. Neither the website nor the mobile app provides information about the number of active users or downloads. In a context of restricted digital freedom, the platform risks being perceived as another top-down political tool rather than a genuine step toward inclusive learning.

Recommendations to the Ministry of Education

To strengthen the effectiveness of Turkmenistan’s digital education efforts and to increase public awareness of Sanly Bilim, the following measures are recommended:

• Prioritize investment in broadband and mobile internet infrastructure, especially in rural and remote areas, to reduce regional disparities in connectivity.
• Unblock access to educational and collaborative platforms essential for learning and innovation.
• Strengthen outreach for Sanly Bilim through active social media presence and partnerships with local educators, media outlets, and influencers.
• Promote free digital literacy and computer training programs – such as those developed with Turkmenistan-Korea Information Access Center – through targeted online and offline campaigns to increase awareness and participation.
• Tackle the shortage of Turkmen-language online resources – only 6,281 Turkmen Wikipedia articles compared to 231,688 in Kazakh. This gap limits digital participation and deepens educational inequality. Translating and adapting global academic resources like TED Talks and Khan Academy into the Turkmen language is essential to close this divide.
• Support local content creators, universities, and civil society groups in developing culturally relevant and age-appropriate learning materials in Turkmen language.
• Expand professional development for teachers in digital pedagogy and the use of multimedia tools. Ensure ICT resources in schools are effectively integrated into classroom teaching, rather than currently remaining underutilized.
• To strengthen accountability and foster stakeholder trust, it is recommended that the platform institute a practice of regularly publishing usage and impact data.
• Address privacy concerns by allowing users to register on Sanly Bilim with less personally identifiable information – such as a generic email address and first name only – rather than mandatory phone number verification. Given that in Turkmenistan, purchasing a SIM card requires presenting a passport, every phone number is traceable to a specific individual, discouraging open use of online platforms and educational resources developed by the government.
• Enhance transparency by clearly communicating how user data is collected, stored, and protected, and ensure that personal information is not shared with third parties without consent.
• Conduct regular anonymous user feedback and public surveys to understand barriers to use and adapt the platform’s privacy and functionality accordingly.

Turkmenistan’s push toward digitization deserves recognition; however, the true educational impact of centralized, government-led platforms remains limited in an environment lacking intellectual freedom. Ultimately, the promise of digital education lies not only in technological advancement but in the conditions that allow ideas to flourish. Without those, even the most sophisticated platforms risk becoming the illusions of progress rather than tools of transformation.

About the Author

Gulshat Rozyyeva, Research Scholar & PhD Candidate at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies (Middle East and Central Asia), the Australian National University, ACT, Australia. Research focus is Migration and Diaspora Mobilisation Studies and research area is Central Asia, with a particular focus on Turkmenistan.

REFERENCE LIST

1. Bilim.tm (n.d.) Bilim [Education portal]. Available here.
2. Egov.kz (n.d.) E-gov [Kazakhstan public services portal]. Available here.
3. Egov.kz (n.d.) Pre-school [Pre-school services category]. Available here.
4. Government of Turkmenistan (2017) National concept of digital educational system development is approved. 15 September. Available here.
5. Government of Turkmenistan (n.d.) Development of education and science is a priority vector of strategy neutral Turkmenistan. Available here.
6. Government of Turkmenistan (n.d.) Sanly bilim meýdançasy okuwçylaryň hyzmatynda [The digital learning platform serves students]. Available here.
7. Progres Online (2021) Türkmenistanda mobil aragatnaşygy we internet nähili ösýär? [How are mobile communications and the Internet developing in Turkmenistan?] 26 October. Available here.
8. Progres Online (2022) The benefits of the Internet in education: Why is it urgent to make it work without VPN in Turkmenistan? 15 July. Available here.
9. Progres.Online (2024a) The State Directed Internet Blockade Continued in Turkmenistan in 2023. 13 February. Available here.
10. Progres Online (2024b) What is the median daily income in Turkmenistan? 21 November. Available here.
11. Progres.Online (2025) Internet Use and Trust in Government in Central Asia. 21 May. Available here.
12. Progres.Online (2023) The scale of Internet censorship in Turkmenistan: 122,000 domains are blocked. Available here.
13. Türkmenistanyň Bilim Ministrligi [Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan] (n.d.) TÜRKMENISTAN – KOREÝA MAGLUMAT ELÝETERLILIK MERKEZI [Turkmenistan – Korea Information Accessibility Centre]. Available here.
14. Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary (TDH) [Turkmen State News Agency] (n.d.) Turkmenistan will develop digital educational environment and resources of e-learning. Available here.
15. Turkmen News (2023) Pri defitsite sim-kart, nomera natsional’nogo operatora Turkmenistana prodayut v Instagram [При дефиците сим-карт, номера национального оператора Туркменистана продают в Инстаграме / During the shortage of SIM cards, numbers of Turkmenistan’s national operator are sold on Instagram]. 5 April. Available here.
16. UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (CRC) (n.d.) Convention on the Rights of the Child. Available here.
17. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (n.d.) SDG4 Data: Turkmenistan Profile. Available here.
18. UNICEF (2024) UNICEF Turkmenistan Annual Report 2024. Available here.
19. World Bank (2015) Incheon Declaration: Education 2030 – Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. Available here.
20. World Bank Data (n.d.) Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP) – Turkmenistan. Available here.
21. Yazov, B. et al. (2020) Exploring the Status of ICT in Education in Turkmenistan for Achieving the Education 2030 Agenda. Available here.