Kyrgyzstan celebrated the 24th anniversary of Independence. A new era in the young Kyrgyz Republic is marked by change — changes in development goals. Proof of this is the officially designated course of the country towards Sustainable Development as a logically and politically justified choice. For the first time in the entire history of Kyrgyzstan’s independence, it is acknowledged that economic growth is impossible not only without the rational use of natural resources, but also without highly educated citizens.
“The foundation of the National Strategy for the Development of Kyrgyzstan is a person,” says Prime Minister Temir Sariev. Consequently, the era of change must create a socially oriented education system that allows Kyrgyz citizens to acquire knowledge and competencies that are in demand in society and necessary for their self-realization and for fulfilling the duties of a Citizen.
“The novelty of the National Sustainable Development Strategy program until 2017 and the action plan is that for the first time, it is a PERSON who is placed at the heart of all reforms,” says expert of the International Center for Nonprofit Law Nookat Idrisov. “This is a tremendous achievement for the country. In this aspect, it is logical to speak about the education system as an indicator of the quality of the implementation of reforms for the benefit of the effectiveness of policies aimed at achieving balance between the economic and social blocks, taking into account the impact on the environment.”
However, according to the Advisor to the Minister of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Dikambaev, there are a number of problems at all levels of education. For example, only 15% of preschoolers receive support from preschool educational institutions. To ensure high-quality school education, the state of school infrastructure is lacking; the level of knowledge of teachers, who are supposed to be key figures in reforms, is weak; there is a shortage of not only new generation school textbooks, but a complete set of textbooks is provided only for one or two classes; it is no secret that schools have to survive on parents’ money. According to the president of OOMD “Our Age” Chinara Aitbaeva, 22% of all expenses for preschool and school education were covered by parents!
Budget policy expert Nurzhan Toktogulova also criticized the allocation of budget funds for education: in 2014, out of 100% of the republican budget, 89.7% went to pay salaries. What kind of development of educational institution infrastructure, quality of teaching, and improvement of methodologies can be talked about!
As a result, according to Head of the Monitoring and Strategic Planning Department of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan Larisa Marchenko, in 2014 only 12% of children confirmed their “red” certificates! And the director of the Agency for Social Technologies Zulkfiya Kochorbaeva reported that a quality assessment of knowledge among teachers in just the Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan revealed an unprecedented fact: only 38% of teachers were able to achieve scores of “4” and “5” in testing and could confirm their qualifications!
In the higher education and vocational education system, the expert community also identified a number of systemic problems. These include weak nationwide and internal organizational control, lack of a systematic and coherent educational policy against a backdrop of an ineffective quality control system, a low cadre base, poor material support of educational institutions, poor links between universities and the labor market, persistent corruption, and insufficient development of the research function in universities, colleges, and vocational schools. Although Kyrgyzstan has officially recorded a transition to a two-tier higher education system (bachelor’s and master’s degrees), rector of the BFEA Svetlana Sirmbard notes the inconsistency of “our” educational programs with state educational standards adopted in Europe and the USA; as well as the absence of a unified national structure to build this compliance and national qualification frameworks. The rector also pointed out the lack of state funding for the development of standards and expressed the opinion that the approval of standards cannot be conducted through the government of Kyrgyzstan.
According to Larisa Marchenko, there is currently quite serious legal regulation in Kyrgyzstan, a mechanism for making amendments and additions to the legal framework of the sector. The latest changes date back to May 2015 when a whole package of amendments to the Law “On Education” was prepared, which clarified key terms (“master”, “bachelor”, “inclusion”, “education for sustainable development,” etc.). These changes are aimed at establishing a common understanding of the processes occurring in the education system, and the amendments made to specific articles will clarify the procedures and content of several processes (conducting accreditation, norms of practice for students in teaching specialties, etc.). However, de facto, a number of issues remain unresolved.
The phrase that “human resources determine everything” has long become commonplace. However, contrary to the law of dialectics that quantity inevitably transitions into quality. Thus, instead of 10 state universities in the Kyrgyz SSR, today in 5.5-million Kyrgyzstan, there are 52 universities, the majority of which are private; however, the quality of future builders of a highly developed state does not meet the challenges of the new era. A considerable number of both private and mixed regional educational institutions have emerged that do not even possess a sufficiently high-quality educational and production base.
According to the expert of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Birgit Wetzel, if any state decides to increase (decrease) the number of educational institutions, the quality of domestic education remains decisive for assessing the effectiveness of the educational system in the country. Because in the context of a country’s sustainable development, only a highly educated individual can ensure the innovative development of both the state and society as a whole.
At all times, quality education was considered a great achievement and a necessary condition for the development of any country. According to expert from Moscow Andrey Zybykin, education is one of the main basic factors for the development of the state, and in the information age, everything depends on education. But this so-called “educational dimension” of Sustainable Development in Kyrgyzstan, against the backdrop of existing challenges, is impossible without public monitoring and access to information about the reforms being carried out in the field of science and education that is available to all segments of the population.
According to the Chairman of the Public Council “BIOM” Vladimir Korotenko, today many citizens of the country are not aware of the reforms in the education sector, and if they are aware, they understand little of them and, therefore, can hardly influence the effectiveness of the reforms being implemented. When the people’s trust in the domestic education system was seriously undermined, the authorities faced the task of bridging the gap between the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan and society, restoring citizens’ respect for state structures. To this end, a mechanism for public monitoring of the ministries’ activities, including the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan, was established in Kyrgyzstan, composed of experienced and authoritative individuals who would review the reforms being carried out and assist with knowledge, competence, and experience.
For a careful analysis of the situation in the educational system of Kyrgyzstan, the Law “On Public Councils of State Bodies” is in effect in the country. It can be said that Public Councils during the crisis time of the country’s educational system have lent a shoulder: with the authority of their members and their selfless professional work in monitoring educational reforms, they help partially restore trust in power.
Additionally, by the decree of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, a Public Expert Council for the Development of Education was created in Kyrgyzstan consisting of representatives from NGOs (whose activities are specifically related to educational issues) and experienced educators to ensure interaction between the government and society. As of today, according to a council member Zamilya Derbishaeva, the analysis of the state of the education system in the republic carried out by the Public Expert Council on the Development of Education under the President of Kyrgyzstan has determined such problem areas as content and quality of education at all levels of the system and management and funding.
Since great hopes are placed on the Public Councils under the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan and the Public Expert Council on the Development of Education under the President of Kyrgyzstan, and such public activity in Kyrgyzstan is still at an initial stage, the European Union has extended a hand to make these institutions more effective and impactful.
For several years now, the EU has set the goal of supporting the government of Kyrgyzstan in implementing structural educational reforms. These relate to increasing the potential of institutional and human resources in the areas of governance, financial planning, budgeting, monitoring, and reporting in the education sector of our country. The EU also supports the implementation of proper procedures and quality control systems to ensure transparent and effective management of sectoral programs.
A significant achievement within the framework of the cooperation between the EU and the education sector of Kyrgyzstan is the launch of a new project “Stimulating and Monitoring Reforms in the Education Sector in the Kyrgyz Republic”, aimed at supporting educational reforms. This means planned actions focusing on strengthening the institutional capacity and competence of Public Councils under the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan, improving cooperation between Public Councils and government bodies as well as civil society to enhance the level of transparency and participation in the educational reform process.
“Members of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan strive to achieve openness and transparency in the activities of the department. Their work is very important, and therefore it is equally important to assist the expert community in implementing educational reforms,” asserts project coordinator on behalf of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Christina Turzer.
“An important component of our work is also the increase in civil society’s involvement in monitoring the implementation of educational reforms and the development of meaningful, proper recommendations,” said Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan Arthur Bakirov. In his opinion, the education system is finally becoming the main subject of values, goals, and paths to achieve them. It ceases to be an object of influence and manipulation by the state. Therefore today, more than ever, it is important and necessary for the state to pay attention to education and the work of Public Councils.
Member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan Almaz Tajibay outlined important areas of work for the Council: development of educational strategy, standardization of state educational services, analysis of changes in laws on education and budget financing of the sector, accessibility for citizens to comprehensive information, discussion of current issues of the ministry’s work, provision of schools with textbooks and their content, transparency of conducting tenders, schools’ readiness for a full educational process, availability of a unified school uniform, quality of children’s nutrition, etc.
The expert community is unanimous in the opinion that the work of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan is an essential platform for dialogue between the state and society in addressing the main shortcomings in the quality of the country’s education system that hinder living standards and the creation of a more competitive economy. The Public Council is also expected to become an institution with real potential and an effective anti-corruption mechanism.
