Kyrgyzstan is experiencing a severe shortage of speech therapists and special education teachers. This is leading to a shortage of such personnel in educational institutions across the country. Durus Kozuev, Deputy Minister of Science, Higher Education, and Innovation, stated at a meeting of the Zhogorku Kenesh Committee on Science, Education, Innovative Development, Information Technology, Culture, Sports, and Youth Affairs.
According to him, there is not a single higher education institution in the south of the country that trains special education teachers and speech therapists. In Bishkek, only two universities train such specialists: Ishenaly Arabaev Kyrgyz State University and Kusein Karasaev Bishkek State University.
«That’s why we’ve launched a new program—’special pedagogical education,’ which includes speech therapy and surdopedagogy. Experimental groups are already operating, state standards have been developed, and we’re implementing this program in all pedagogical universities,» Durus Kozuev said.
Deputies of the Zhogorku Kenesh have recently repeatedly raised the issue of a shortage of defectologists and speech therapists. Recently, Deputy Nurzhamal Torobekova reported that there are only three speech therapists in the entire Osh region. Meanwhile, the number of children with autism spectrum disorders and speech delays is growing in the country.
