Alef Education Partners With Soro AI to Reach 250,000 Students in Tajikistan

The agreement was announced at the AICONF conference, held in Dushanbe on October 30 and 31. It pairs Alef's Alef Pathways platform for English, mathematics and science with Soro AI's work on AI tools in local languages and its knowledge of Tajikistan's national curriculum.

The partnership starts with a pilot for grade 11 students in selected government schools by January 2027. In this first phase, Alef Pathways will provide English content matched to each student's level and intended to support classroom lessons rather than compete with them. Results will be measured by engagement, academic progress and teacher feedback, and will decide how the next phase is rolled out. The companies aim to add mathematics and science by September 2027, with content adapted to each market's curriculum.

Alef chief executive Geoffrey Alphonso said real expansion in education cannot be done by copying models from one country to another. It depends on understanding how students learn in each setting and what teachers need, he said, and he called the partnership a key step in the company's international growth.

Azizjon Azimi, director of Soro AI Limited, said the company has focused on making AI available to schools across Tajikistan in a way that could work elsewhere. "We aim together to develop solutions in Central Asia that respect local educational priorities, support teachers inside classrooms, and help students strengthen their knowledge and skills," he said, according to WAM's Arabic report.

The deal shows a model UAE edtech companies are using to grow abroad: working with a local AI partner that handles language and curriculum fit, instead of exporting a finished product. Central Asia's large school-age population makes the region a natural target, though the deal's commercial terms were not disclosed.