Russian language increases in popularity in southern Kyrgyzstan

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OSH - In the Southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, where inhabitants are mostly ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, an increasing number of students are learning in Russian.

“We have had to start offering classes with Russian language instruction in some Kyrgyz and Uzbek secondary schools”, Abdivali Baltabayev, the head of the Osh Education Administration, told Central Asia Online. “ ... Parents want their children to receive a school education in the official language”. Kyrgyz and Russian are official languages.

A total of 57 secondary schools operate in Osh. Seven conduct classes in Russian. Most of the remainder are Kyrgyz, Uzbek and mixed schools, so-called national schools because they teach in the language of one or the other nationality. In Northern Kyrgyzstan most education has long been done in Russian.

“Up until the fifth grade, my daughter Bermet went to a Kyrgyz school, now she studies in a Russian school”, said Baktykan Ermekova. “Russian School No. 6 selected a good teaching staff. They work with determination. Owing to this, my child’s academic progress has markedly improved, she is more well-rounded, and I am very happy”.

Venera Kantserova, a teacher at School No. 6, said nearly 2,000 students study there. Two years ago, there were 1,700. Of them, the number of Russian children and children of other Slavic nationalities totals 1 percent.

“Many parents are motivated by the fact that they want their children to speak Russian well”, Kantserova said.

An Osh City Hall employee, who asked to remain anonymous, admitted there are other reasons: “In many of the national schools, the disciplining of students is weak and their educational work is poorly conducted. Moreover, these schools are less well-equipped with teaching materials and textbooks on school subjects.” Teachers say the lack of textbooks in the Uzbek language is an obstacle. Students have to study with textbooks left over from Soviet times or published in Soviet Uzbekistan.

“Supplies for Uzbek schools in southern Kyrgyzstan is only 34 percent [of what is needed]”, said the Director of the Centre for Educational Training at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek University, Tursunbai Kamilov. “The reason for this is a lack of funding in the state budget”.

In addition, there is a personnel crisis.

“The reluctance to get a secondary education in Uzbek schools is due to the fact that the quality of the teachers leaves much to be desired”, noted the director of one local school, who asked to remain anonymous. “Given the lack of qualified teachers, we are forced to hire graduates from local universities who do not have work experience. Moreover, in some schools senior university students conduct the classes”.

Parents cite this as a major reason for transferring their children to Russian schools. But it’s not the only reason.

“I transferred my children to Russian School No. 20 because the quality of teaching there is much higher than in the national (schools)”, said ethnic Uzbek Mukaddas Karimova. “A good knowledge of Russian will allow them to pursue a higher education or go to Russia, where it is possible to get a job”.

Local officials think the number of students in national schools is decreasing not only because of the students’ desire to get an education in Russian, but also because of a downward trend in the overall number of students.

“In the 2008-09 academic year, our general-education schools had 51,862 graduates, whereas in the 2007-08 academic there were 53,628 and in the 2006-07 academic year there were 54,549 students”, Baltabayev said.

According to him, this is due not only to the migration of students’ parents to other cities and countries, but also the overall demographic situation in Kyrgyzstan.

However, according to the National Statistics Committee, the population of Kyrgyzstan on January 1, 2009 totalled 5,276,100 people, 183,300 more than in 2005.