Representatives of the education sector, international organizations, civil society and independent experts believe that the draft law on education and bylaws should be withdrawn.
They are sure that the adoption of these documents will hinder the implementation of the reforms declared by the country’s leadership. Therefore, new draft laws and bylaws must be developed, and they must be based on the tasks set in the presidential address and the national program until 2026.
«The process of discussing draft laws and bylaws should be transparent, inclusive, with broad involvement of civil society, representatives of the education sector, and independent experts,» the resolution reads.
More than 60 organizations signed the letter to the president of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Chairman of the Cabinet, the Parliament, and the ministers of education and finance.
«When discussing documents critical to the education sector, the Ministry of Education acts behind the scenes and in a hurry, trying to pass documents without proper discussion and without taking into account the opinions of all interested parties. This is despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are involved in this sector, and expenditures on education account for almost a quarter of the state budget (about 40 billion soms in 2020). Such actions cause enormous distrust in the activities of the Ministry of Education and Science,» the letter of associations says.
«The submitted draft laws and bylaws in no way correspond to either the needs of society or the political statements of the country’s leaders and require cardinal revision. Moreover, these drafts contain serious barriers to the development and improvement of the quality of education in the country and the development of science,» the authors of the letter believe.
«Development of the education sector can only occur with the development of educational organizations themselves and for this they must have the freedom to make decisions. However, the Ministry of Education believes that it must strictly regulate and control the issues of educational and scientific and methodological guidance, publication of educational and methodological literature, setting the terms of training, professional development and a number of other issues that can and should be addressed at the level of the educational organization. The Ministry of Education assigns all these tasks to itself,» the experts say.
The Ministry of Education itself said that the draft law on education underwent public discussion and was published on the website of the Presidential Administration and on the website of the single portal of public discussion of the draft laws and regulations of the Kyrgyz Republic. «During the period of public discussion, suggestions, recommendations and comments were received, which were considered by specialists and experts. As a result, a draft was prepared taking into account all the proposals,» the press service noted.
The ministry assured that the comments made at the round tables on December 20 and 27, 2021 will also be taken into account.
