Human rights watchdog Khronika Turkmenistana has previously described some students having to sign a pledge to give up driving altogether, or face expulsion. The ban was first imposed in 2007, as part of a campaign to combat crime and inequality. It saw mobile phones, lavish graduation parties, "brash" clothes and jewellery banished from Tajik schools and universities. One government official reportedly suggested the parties often ended in brawls and - like mobile phones - were unaffordable to many. Tajikistan remains among the world's poorest countries. According to the World Bank , there were 29 cars per 1,000 people there in 2010.