Financial pressures add to commonly-held view that girls need education less than boys. Khosiat Najmiddinova’s two younger daughters may never finish school, as she sees education as a priority only for her sons. “To be honest, the children don’t have the clothes to go to school,” said the mother of six from the Tajik capital Dushanbe. “As well as clothing, they also need school stuff, and I can’t afford to provide it for all of them.”