Turkmenistan Secondary School Linkages Program

SSLP aims to break down stereotypes that divide peoples and to help develop institutional and personal linkages between secondary schools in Burke County, North Carolina and partner institutions in the Mary Region, Turkmenistan. Winning secondary school teachers and administrators from both nations will participate in a series of partnership building activities, including study tours to the U.S. and Turkmenistan. Professional and cultural activities will make up the majority of the program. Returning participants are expected to conduct workshops with colleagues in their communities to share the knowledge gained from their time spent in the U.S. Participants and their schools are encouraged to develop contacts with the U.S., which will result in long-term partnerships.

Through this person to person exchange, SSLP aims to break down stereotypes that divide peoples and to help develop institutional (and personal) linkages between secondary schools in Burke County, North Carolina and partner institutions in the Mary Province, Turkmenistan. SSLP seeks to create relationships that will link secondary school teachers and administrators from the U.S. and Turkmenistan in a program designed to explore each other's systems, schools, approaches to education, and study how their profession is engaging the successor generations in both countries.

Winning secondary school teachers and school administrators from both nations will participate in a series of partnership building activities, including study tours to Burke County, North Carolina and Mary Province, Turkmenistan. Both professional and cultural activities will make up the majority of the program. Returning participants are expected to conduct workshops with colleagues in their communities to share the knowledge gained from their time spent in the U.S. Participants and their schools are encouraged to develop contacts with the U.S., which will result in long-term partnerships.

Candidates will not be judged on the basis of race, nationality, gender, or social position. Applications are encouraged and welcomed from both urban and rural schools in the Mary Province. Candidates who do not speak English are encouraged to apply. Care will be taken to evaluate candidates according to their abilities and not according to their school’s availability of resources and/or opportunities for international contact.

Finalists must be able to receive a U.S. J-1 visa and maintain their visa status for the duration of the program. Since SSLP is funded by the U.S. Government, participants must spend two years in Turkmenistan after completing the program before they are eligible for a U.S. temporary work visa or U.S. immigration visa.

SSLP aims to:
-Recognize the excellence and commitment of secondary school teachers and administrators by providing opportunities for U.S. and Turkmen educational professionals to learn from one another's education systems and foster excellence in the classroom through increased exchange of ideas and expertise;
-Promote the leadership skills of U.S. and Turkmen teachers and administrators by providing opportunities to share educational best practices in professional development through seminars and workshops in the United States and Turkmenistan;
-Raise the status of teaching in Turkmenistan and create among key Turkmen professionals a deeper understanding of the U.S., so that they may share their experiences of living in a diverse democratic society with students and teachers in their home communities;
-Support long-term relationships between U.S. and Turkmen teachers, administrators and schools; and
-Enhance the knowledge of one another’s political systems, government structures and approaches to engaging youth.

Program Resources