11:00
USD 89.47
EUR 96.56
RUB 0.97

Sapat schools scandal. Education Ministry to check statements of graduates

The Ministry of Education of Kyrgyzstan will check the messages of Sebat schools’ graduates (now Sapat) about bullying and harassment, which they shared on social networking website with the hashtag #metoosebat. Press service of the ministry informed 24.kg news agency.

According to it, management of Sapat lyceums network was obliged to comment on all the voiced stories. In case of confirmation, the ministry will create its own commission.

«Are these real graduates, were there such teachers? Then we will be able to speak substantively. We plan to raise this issue at the next meeting with the co-founders of Sapat,» the ministry said.

The ministry did not voice the date of the meeting.

Graduates of Sebat (now Sapat) began to post their frank stories after the deputy of the Parliament, Irina Karamushkina, stated that a director of one of Turkish lyceums harassed a student. After it, the school administration was suspended from work. Despite the fact that the school has nothing to do with Sapat lyceums, students began to share their stories using the hashtag #metoosebat.

The international educational institution Sapat has a mixed form of ownership and operates under the laws of Kyrgyzstan. The founders include citizens of Kyrgyzstan and the Ministry of Education and Science.

Until 2017, the schools network was called Sebat. After the failed coup in 2016 in Turkey, of which Fethullah Gülen was accused, the government of Recep Erdogan asked to close Sebat schools. They allegedly belonged to supporters of Gülen and preached his teachings. Kyrgyzstan refused to comply with Ankara’s request, renaming the schools into Sapat and re-registering them.

Popular