a hospital of COVID-19. According to local media, the president's sisters sons physically assaulted the health minister and a senior doctor. Education Despite its poverty, Tajikistan has a high rate of literacy due to the old Soviet system of free education, with an estimated 99.8% of the population having the ability to read and write. Public education in Tajikistan consists of 11 years of primary and secondary education but the government planned to implement a 12-year system in 2016. There is a relatively large number of tertiary education institutions including Khujand State University which has 76 departments in 15 faculties, Tajikistan State University of Law, Business, & Politics, Khorugh State University, Agricultural University of Tajikistan, Tajik National University, and several other institutions. Most, but not all, universities were established during the Soviet Era. tertiary education enrollment was 17%, significantly below the sub-regional average of 37%, although higher than any other low-income country after Syria. Many Tajiks left the education system due to low demand in the labour market for people with extensive educational training or professional skills. Public spending on education was relatively constant between 2005–2012 and fluctuated from 3.5% to 4.1% of GDP significantly below the OECD average of 6%. The United Nations reported that the level of spending was "severely inadequate to meet the requirements of the country's high-needs education system." According to a UNICEF-supported survey, about 25 percent of girls in Tajikistan fail to complete compulsory primary education because of poverty and gender bias, although literacy is generally high in Tajikistan. Estimates of out of school children range from 4.6% to 19.4% with the vast majority being girls. In September 2017, the University of Central Asia launched its second campus in Khorog, Tajikistan, offering majors in Earth & Environmental Sciences and Economics. Tajikistan was ranked 103rd in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 100th in 2019. Science on the territory of Tajikistan achieved great success already in the Middle Ages, but the current scientific organizations were created in the Soviet period. During the period of independence, the scientific sphere experienced a severe crisis: the annual number of patent applications for inventions decreased in 1994-2011 from 193 to 5. A significant contribution to science is made by universities, where in 2011 6707 researchers worked, of which 2450 had academic degrees. For the contribution of Tajik scientists to the development of world astrophysics, one of the minor