Kyrgyz Children’s Rights Defence League opposes school collections

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КYRGYZSTAN — A proposal by Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Uktomkhan Abdullayeva to legalise the collection of funds in secondary schools, which already occurs unofficially, has drawn a negative response from NGOs and the public. On August 19, at a meeting with secondary school headmasters, Abdullayeva proposed that money be collected for use by the schools with the consent of parent committees. She also proposed that payments be made via banks so that the accumulation and use of funds can be monitored.

Abdullayeva’s proposal, however, runs counter to a decree issued on August 17 by the Ministry of Education and Science banning the collection in schools of money for first year entrance examinations, buying or renting textbooks or repairing school buildings.

Director of the Children’s Rights Defence League Nazgul Turdubekova believes that Abdullayeva’s initiative, if implemented, violates law and international treaties regarding children’s right to education. In her view, the introduction of mandated collections in schools is a breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obliges Kyrgyzstan to provide free and compulsory elementary education and encourages the development of different forms of secondary education. In Kyrgyzstan, where a large percentage of the population lives below the poverty line, particularly in rural areas, even small collections in schools can severely strain family budgets.

K. Begayim, a mother of school-age children, reports that some Kyrgyz schools charge admission fees which can reach as much as US$100. “Everyone knows about it, but they pretend that nothing illegal is going on,” she said.

Current unofficial admission fees, test fees, monthly payments, school uniform costs and collections to repair schools widen social gaps among students and results in a number of children at the bottom of the income scale not attending school.

Accordingly, the Children’s Rights Defence League and the Department for the Protection of Children in the Kyrgyz government are implementing the initiative “Give my child a place in school” in order to uncover violations of children’s rights at secondary schools.