Kyrgyzstan

The Kyrgyz educational system faces significant challenges. Once a model of literacy, availability, and accomplishment, it has been eroded by external environmental problems and a difficult adjustment to a necessary internal structural change. The principal challenges appear to be:

• The grave economic situation, which causes students, especially boys, to forgo school to attend to help support their families.
• The apparent inability of the central government to adequately fund education and in particular to pay public school teachers a living wage.
• The need for curriculum change to reflect the new, market-driven, privatized economy.
• The widespread corruption and associated grade inflation at all levels of the educational system.
• An increasing birth rate, particularly in the rural areas, that will add pressure to the educational system.

The former Soviet republics enjoyed a period of significant western interest in their transition for most of the 1990's. It is unfortunate that since then, for whatever reason, interest has waned, yet the problems are still present. In the initial stages of transition, much of the interest involved the use of international programs as a means of assisting in the transition. However this interest has stabilized. Those programs that remain are heavily politicized or driven by religious interests.

It would therefore appear that the most significant changes required for Kyrgyzstan's educational system to stabilize would be for the country to enjoy economic stability and prosperity, from which education could take its place as a significant contributor to the country's viability. Unfortunately, most observers cannot see this kind of stabilization and growth occurring any time soon.