The US embassy has been sponsoring a number of educational programs
recently, offering to take Turkmen students to the United States for
better education. The Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program,
established in 1992 and covering all of Central Asia, allows students
to study in US universities for up to two years, and provides the
students with a large scholarship that includes airfare, tuition,
allowances for housing and books, and training in the English
language.

A new program, called the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program,
will take sixty secondary school teachers from Eurasia to the United
States for a six week program that trains them in American teaching
methodologies. More importantly, it will show them the usefulness of
computers in schools, and train the teachers in the use of word
processors, spreadsheets, and the Internet. After the programs are
completed, they will return to their home country and train other
teachers. They will also be receiving grants from the United States
to purchase educational materials for their schools, which will no
doubt be of use in a country where there are few computers and even
fewer with an internet connection.