The Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Kyrgyzstan and the State Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for Religious Affairs closed 7 madrasahs in 2017, and 23 other educational institutions were issued formal notices. The director of the State Commission Zairbek Ergeshov said this today at a conference on improving the quality of religious education.
According to him, there are 114 religious educational institutions in the country. Many madrasahs do not have the appropriate conditions and teaching staff.
«Today we face a big challenge: we must take seriously religious education and the choice of youth. We know that the world is in a difficult situation. Radicalism moves to violent extremism. Therefore, it is very important for the young people to get a good education, including religious one,» he said.
Zairbek Ergeshov added that it is necessary to introduce a subject to study religion at schools. A lesson on the history of religion was first introduced in 2006 in ten pilot schools, in 2016 — at other 56. In 2018-2019, it is planned to include this subject in the curriculum of all schools.
