21 May 2024

A stateless person in Darvaza, Turkmenistan; image: TCA, Aleksandr Potolitsyn/Stephen M. Bland

Central Asia, Home, Justice, Life & Culture, Features

Lost Identities: Tackling Statelessness in Central Asia

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent emergence of 15 new countries transformed what was once considered internal migration, leaving an extraordinary number of people marooned across newly established borders. Many found themselves holding obsolete Soviet passports or lacking any documentation with which to verify their birthplace. Such was the scale of the problem that in its 2014 Special Report: Ending Statelessness Within 10 Years, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated that “more than two decades after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, over 600,000 people remain stateless.”

This was the case for Vladi, a forty-year-old man with a learning disability, bright blue eyes and a shock of blonde hair, who The Times of Central Asia spoke with at a truck stop in the hamlet of Darvaza in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Vladi was with his father in Ashgabat. With non-ethnic Turkmen not feeling particularly welcome in the chaotic early days of independence, most Russians went home, but during their passage back to Kazan in Tatarstan, Vladi and his father became separated. With no passport, Vladi had become landless, an illegal alien unable to return home. Having drifted from village to village ever since, he’d been in Darvaza for eleven years, now, serving as little more than a whipping boy.

Whilst the number of those with expired or invalid papers is difficult to gauge, particularly badly affected are so-called “border brides” who’ve married across national frontiers and found themselves legal in neither country. For years now, though, Central Asia has sought to tackle the issue of statelessness head-on. Thus, for example, in 2020 Tajikistan adopted an amnesty law which granted official status to some 20,000 people. In the same year, a new provision in the law allowed 50,000 stateless people in Uzbekistan to acquire citizenship.

TCA spoke with Azizbek Ashurov, the Executive Director of Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders, who in 2019 received the Nansen Refugee Award for his work, which saw the Kyrgyz Republic declared by the UNHCR and UNICEF to be the first country in the world to have eradicated the issue of statelessness.

 

TCA: How did you first become involved in the question of statelessness, and what brought the issue to your attention?

Ashurov: I was born during the days of the Soviet Union, when we all had a unified citizenship; the population was very mobile at that time. There were just administrative borders; there was no need to obtain any authorization documents in order to cross these. When the collapse of the USSR occurred in 1991, a lot of people were caught in another state, studying, working, temporarily residing, etc. So, when the 15 new states were formed, along with many other things, each state faced the question: out of the population on the territory at that moment, who should be recognized as our citizens?

All these things had to be linked to the legislation emerging in the states. Many adopted their constitutions two or three years after independence. Kyrgyzstan only adopted a constitution on May 5, 1993. The first law that defined who are citizens in the Kyrgyz Republic came into force on February 18, 1994. The approach was similar in all the states, but there was a deadline. The law said that at the time it came into force, those citizens of the former Soviet Union who permanently reside in the country and had a propiska (permit issued by the authorities that registers the bearer’s place of residence) automatically became citizens of Kyrgyzstan.

I was born in the Uzbek SSR, but our family came from Kyrgyzstan. My parents worked in Uzbekistan, and we were in this state when the Soviet Union collapsed. In the 90s, we moved from one country to another. And it so happened that we moved after the law on Kyrgyz citizenship came into force, but before the Uzbek law had come into force [1995]. Consequently, we found ourselves in a netherworld. In Uzbekistan, we weren’t recognized as citizens, so we came to Kyrgyzstan, but here the deadline had passed.

When new passports of the independent states started to be issued, people became concerned. That’s when I something was deeply wrong.

I finished school and studied to become a lawyer. When I started my first legal practice, unlike other lawyers, I paid attention to the issue of statelessness, probably because of my personal experiences. In 2003, we created a new organization called Lawyers of Fergana Valley, and I was one of its founders. When we were defining our remit, one of problems we included in the list of our services was assistance to stateless people and those who have problems with their legal status. Still, we didn’t understand the scale of this problem, and the state didn’t either. It’s very difficult to count how many people have this status, because most of them aren’t documented or registered. That’s why the authorities don’t have exact figures.

We were providing assistance, and we saw many people dealing with this issue, so we turned to the UNHCR, which had a mandate to reduce the number of stateless people. In 2008, we conducted a study which showed the problem was urgent. The law at that time didn’t allow people to legalize their status quickly and effectively, so we started working with the state to assist people, many of whom didn’t have access to the procedure for determining their citizenship. There were also difficulties in registering the birth of children to parents who were undocumented.

So, we promoted changes in the legislation, and the citizenship law of 2007 ended up being quite progressive. Then, in 2013, we made more changes which allowed a large group of people in difficult situations to apply for a simplified procedure for citizenship. In 2014, together with the state and the UNHCR, we launched a countrywide campaign to identify and document stateless people. After 14 years, our organization, together with the UNHCR and passport offices, created more than 60 mobile passport offices which included our lawyers. We traveled to all regions of the country, even remote ones. There were cases where we couldn’t reach people by car who had problems with their legal status, so we went on horseback. By 2019, we identified over 13,000 stateless people, all of whom eventually received documents.

In 2019, the UN recognized Kyrgyzstan as the first country to conduct a universal campaign and eliminate all known cases of statelessness at that time. In honor of this, our organization was awarded the Nansen Prize. We’re very proud of this award; it was a team effort. The first recipient of this award was Eleanor Roosevelt, and after us, Angela Merkel received this prize.

 

TCA: Do you believe that statelessness has now been completely eradicated in the Kyrgyz Republic?

Ashurov: The eradication of this legal problem, and I consider it a legal problem, has two components; one is addressing current cases, and secondly is preventing future cases. What we’ve been able to do is a big step in the first component. In 2019, we were able to help get citizenship for all the people we identified; but states have borders with other states – people come and go. People come to Kyrgyzstan and find themselves in this situation, and Kyrgyz citizens can also find themselves without citizenship – there are many reasons for this.

Now, we’re focusing our work on preventing future cases of statelessness. For example, the Uzbek law on citizenship has a provision that requires its citizens to register with consular offices if they leave their country. If they don’t register within five years for one reason or another, they lose their citizenship. Why does this happen? Well, Uzbekistan doesn’t have consulates in all countries, and this situation is also connected with migration issues. For example, a woman from Uzbekistan marries a Kyrgyz man and moves to a Kyrgyz village. Often, such people don’t know the migration rules and miss the deadline for registering. Thus, these people become illegal migrants. We call such people stateless persons with de facto status. That is, they don’t even have the official status of a stateless person. These are the kinds of laws that cause new cases of statelessness.

Previously, we also had a gap in the law wherein any citizen of Kyrgyzstan leaving the country with the intention of obtaining citizenship of another state could write an application to renounce their citizenship. There were examples with migrants who went to the Russian Federation, but some applications were refused there – no state gives a 100% guarantee. Upon returning home, such people found themselves in a difficult situation. Some were stopped at the border because their passport was canceled as they’d renounced their citizenship, and others found out after arriving home when applying for a new passport.

There are two UN international conventions on the status of stateless persons which stipulate that all countries should create such provisions to prevent new cases of people losing their citizenship. For example, when a person leaves one nationality, they must have another in place. Last year, with our partners from the UNHCR, we were able to achieve the adoption of this norm in Kyrgyzstan; now, Kyrgyz citizens can’t renounce their citizenship without presenting evidence that they have another.

 

TCA: According to the UN Refugee Agency, as of December 2021, 56,814 people were “known to be stateless across Central Asia [with] 38,000 of these are located in Uzbekistan, alone.” What can be done to end the problem of statelessness?

Ashurov: The UNHCR collate these figures based on information from government agencies, but at the same time they collect information from parallel sources which are closer to the real picture. As for Uzbekistan, most stateless people don’t have any official status; that is, the mechanisms for registration are very strict. For example, even to leave their country an Uzbek citizen must obtain an exit permit.

Now, though, Uzbekistan is showing a very positive dynamic in solving the issue. Five years ago, there were more than 100,000 people who didn’t have citizenship – then a change in the law was made which gave over 50,000 people access to naturalization procedures. These are people who’d previously missed the deadline and still had Soviet-era passports. Thanks to this, there are fewer and fewer stateless people there every day.

In Tajikistan, the authorities identified twice as many stateless people as in Kyrgyzstan. As a result, they adopted the necessary laws, and are now working on further legalization with regard to such people. In Kazakhstan, there was also a national campaign to eradicate this problem. There is positive momentum, and they created a procedure to identify stateless people.

In Kyrgyzstan, there isn’t a unified procedure. Stateless people don’t have a certificate which meets international standards, and such a document can’t be used to cross the border. Now, the authorities are working to ensure that stateless persons have digital and biometric documents which guarantee freedom of movement. Of course, they won’t fall under any interstate agreements on simplified entry, but they will be able to get visas for the countries they want to go to.

In addition, against the background of the war in Ukraine, a lot of migrants are returning from Russia with canceled Russian passports. Our citizens who obtained citizenship there and wanted to avoid mobilization – such measures were taken against them. We’re working to help these people restore their Kyrgyz citizenship.

Azizbek Ashurov; image: UNHCR

 

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Times of Central Asia

20 May 2024

Image: otyrar.kz

Central Asia, Home, Life & Culture, Kazakhstan Justice, Kazakhstan, Features, Kazakhstan Featurees

Why Have Cases of Abduction of Women for Marriage Not Decreased in Kazakhstan?

In Kazakhstan, the statistics related to criminal cases regarding the abduction of women as brides does not show material change, a study conducted by analysts at Ranking.kz shows.

Referring to the data of the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan, the authors of the study report that last year, 18 such criminal cases were recorded. Of these, two-thirds (12 cases) were registered in the southern regions, and two cases each in the eastern, western and central parts of the country.

The report notes that the problem is characteristic not only of remote rural settlements, but also of large metropolitan areas. Thus, 6 out of 12 ‘southern’ criminal cases of abduction of women were in Almaty, and a single case was registered in Astana.

But the number of registered criminal cases on another related criminal offense, namely illegal deprivation of liberty that occurs when a woman is forcibly kept in the house of her fiancé, has noticeably decreased since 2018 from 71 to 13 cases nationwide.

It is worth noting that these statistics only partially reflect the situation on the ground as some Kazakhs continue to disguise this criminal offense as the ancient custom of “qyz alyp qashu” (bride kidnapping).

According to Artur Lastaev, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Kazakhstan, at least two factors affect the situation. Firstly, Kazakhstan does not have a separate article for abducting women for the purposes of marriage, and therefore all abductions of women are registered under one crime, i.e. Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Secondly, most of the abductions of women for marriage are not even included in statistical reports as they are often covered up. In his report last year, Lastaev wrote: “We can only guess about the real figures of bride theft. Stereotypes persist in society that do not allow women to report the use of this type of coercion. In most cases, perpetrators and victims are not even aware of the criminal nature of such acts and criminal responsibility for them.”

According to the data published by the Ombudsman within the framework of the International Scientific and Practical Conference, “Countering domestic violence: problems and solutions”, 214 criminal cases have been initiated in Kazakhstan since 2019 for the abduction of women. Of these, 94.3% were terminated due to lack of corpus delicti. Only 10 cases were sent to the courts, and 27 people were brought to bear responsibility for their actions.

The Commissioner for Human Rights believes that a separate article for abduction of women for forced marriage should be introduced into the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to Lastaev, this should have a preventative effect and reduce the level of crime against women. The General Prosecutor’s Office, where the proposal has been sent, supported the initiative, but amendments to the laws have not yet been adopted.

More than a year ago, experts from Kazakhstan’s Institute for Social Development conducted a sociological study on gender policy that also touched on “bride kidnapping”. Surveys of the Kazakhstani population showed mixed results. Although 76.4% of respondents have a negative attitude towards kidnapping a bride against her will, another 11.7% responded that in such a situation, the bride should stay and marry her kidnapper.

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Times of Central Asia

20 May 2024

Image: TCA, Aleksandr Potolitsyn

Central Asia, Opinion Head, Home, Features

Central Asia’s “C5” Security Bloc Can Become a Reality

Central Asia is an emerging economic region that offers the world immense natural resources, a viable trade corridor, and a young, educated workforce. On a diplomatic level, major global powers have sometimes chosen to engage with the five Central Asian nations (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) as a bloc rather than individually, thus giving rise to the term C5+1.

The United States, Germany, Japan, and the European Union have C5+1 initiatives grouping the five countries as a block. The C5+1 is not entirely a Western construct as, in addition to Japan, China also has its own C5+1 launched in 2023 that mirrors the U.S. version. Russia’s economic and security cooperation platforms are not all-inclusive when comes to Central Asia and include other CIS countries, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Moldova.

 

Cooperation vis-à-vis Afghanistan shows a united front on regional security

On May 18, 2024, the heads of the Security Councils of Central Asian countries gathered in Astana, Kazakhstan, for a meeting aimed at enhancing regional security and cooperation. This high-level assembly brought together senior officials from the five states to discuss pressing security challenges and explore collaborative solutions. Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who chaired the meeting, impressed that Afghanistan should be the focus of the region’s common attention as Central Asia’s most dire security challenges relate to this southern neighbor.

Afghanistan has been a focal point for the spread of violent extremism and oppressive ideologies, impacting global peace and security. The country’s history of conflict and provision of safe havens to extremist groups to train fighters and spread their ideologies have long posed threats to neighboring countries and beyond. In Central Asia, this has led to increased terrorism, with groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and ISIS-Khorasan exploiting Afghanistan’s instability to establish bases and train fighters. They have carried out cross-border attacks, spreading violence into countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Additionally, the dissemination of radical ideologies from Afghanistan has recruited and radicalized individuals in Central Asia, contributing to other local insurgencies and destabilizing the region. An attack on a Russian concert hall in March 2024 by ISIS resulted in 144 deaths.  This event led President Tokayev to note that “there remains high risks associated with the activity of international terrorist organizations”.

Narcotics trafficking funds terrorist operations in Afghanistan, fuels region-wide organized crime and increases addiction rates. Effective border control is essential to prevent the movements of militants and drug traffickers from Afghanistan into Central Asia, and thus enhance regional security and stability.

In addition to combative and preventive measures, the UN wants Afghanistan to be brought into the international fold to manage these threats. Central Asian countries can facilitate this transition and have already made their own individual bilateral efforts to integrate the “Islamic Republic” into the international arena. Kazakhstan’s President Tokayev, for instance, proposed the creation of a UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan, to be based in Kazakhstan.

 

Regional unity helps withstand unwanted external interference

Historically, Central Asia has received great attention from international powers vying for influence and control over its resources and its geopolitical position. Central Asian communities have been at risk of becoming collateral damage in this contest for influence.

President Tokayev called on the Central Asian states to work together to “resist external forces that seek to pit the states of the region against each other and divide them.” A surge in disinformation campaigns has hit the region’s social media space. Unsurprisingly, cybersecurity was raised as a theme of cooperation at the May 18 meeting of Security Council heads.

Outside countries with strategic interests in Central Asia may cause unforeseen divisions when they focus on executing their own agendas. Historically, Russia reinforced its alliances with Central Asia by asserting cultural asymmetries through a shared Russian culture and language. In September 2023, Moscow announced plans to build nine Russian-language schools in Kyrgyzstan by 2029 with a $5.5 million budget, and an additional ten schools in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. However, Russian soft power is waning in the wake of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine and a resurgence of ethnic-based nationalism. As a result, ethnic tribalization risks pitting the region’s minority Russians against other dominant ethnic groups.

On the other hand, a U.S. push for a more liberal world order, including its blanket provisions for religious expression, may inadvertently allow the rise of extremist and oppressive ideologies that in turn breed terrorism while also eroding the secular principals that a liberal order is intended to protect. In a May 2024 report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, all C5 countries were criticized in some form. Tajikistan, for instance, was included in the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) along with Iran and Afghanistan, among others. Representing the inherent dilemma in its strategy, however, in May 2024, the U.S. deepened cooperation with Tajikistan to combat terrorism, which derives mainly from extremist religious ideologies that the country deems an existential threat.

On a different note, China’s pressure for Central Asian nations to deport Uyghur activists can go against public support among local populations who share strong ethnic and cultural ties with the Uyghurs and can thus shatter notions of solidarity.

 

Conclusion

The “C5” construct has the potential to benefit all parties as long as divisive policies do not get in their own way. The recent meeting of the heads of Security Council of Central Asian states was a prelude to the upcoming Sixth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, which will be held in Astana on August 9, 2024. Kazakhstan’s President Tokayev further announced a strategy for the Development of Regional Cooperation “Central Asia – 2040”, with its adoption expected to be a significant boost for the region. The plan builds on another agreement, the “Treaty on Friendship, Good-Neighborliness and Cooperation for the Development of Central Asia in the XXI Century,” signed by three Central Asian states in 2022.

Overall, the formation of the C5 platform is a good opportunity for the region and the world. With the ingestion of Afghanistan, soon it may even grow to be C6, bringing further predictability to a global order that is experiencing increasing insecurity and instability.

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Times of Central Asia

20 May 2024

Image: gov.kz

Central Asia, International Affairs, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan International Affairs

Kazakhstan Joins UN Crime Prevention Commission for First Time

The 33rd session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) was held in Vienna. According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan has been elected for the first time to the CPPUC for the period from 2025 to 2027 and “is ready to make its practical contribution to the work of the commission, taking into account the accumulated national experience in crime prevention and criminal justice.”

The permanent representative of Kazakhstan to international organizations in Vienna, Mukhtar Tleuberdi informed the participants of the session about the latest reforms in law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan, the development of the penitentiary system to bring it closer to international standards, including reducing the number of prisoners, rehabilitation, reintegration of citizens returning from conflict zones, as well as reducing the level of re-offenders. The Kazakh delegation also stressed the importance of developing international cooperation on preventing and combating organized crime, corruption, terrorism, and other criminal activities.

“Mukhtar Tleuberdi emphasized the contribution of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and donor countries in the implementation of these tasks, assuring the further support of Kazakhstan to the activities of UNODC, including through the allocation of voluntary contributions to the Global Program against Cybercrime,”, stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Times of Central Asia

20 May 2024

Image: pkzsk.info

Central Asia, Kazakhstan Local Politics, Local Politics, Kazakhstan

Floods in Kazakhstan: Affected Citizens Make Demands to the Authorities

The situation with floods in several regions of Kazakhstan remains critical. In Atyrau region, it has already acquired the character of a political crisis; in the city of Kulsary, since May 15, residents, dissatisfied with the amount of compensation offered have continued to speak out.

On May 20, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the RK provided operational information on the flood situation. In Petropavlovsk, work on pumping out the remaining flooded 29 territories continue. During the day 153,320 cubic meters were pumped out. Due to the stabilization of flood situation in general, work in the region also involved rescuers from Almaty, Abay, Ulytau, Akmola, Karaganda, Kostanay, Pavlodar and Turkestan regions.

In Atyrau region 66,770 cubic meters of water were pumped out from flooded areas, whilst around-the-clock monitoring of the water level of the River Zhaiyk and additional bank reinforcement works were undertaken in Atyrau and Makhambet districts.

“Disinfection work is being carried out in drained houses and territories. Over the past six days, the units of radiation, chemical and biological protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the villages of Teplichnoye, Olshanka, Sokolovka, Vishnevka, Beskol, Pribrezhnoye of Kyzylzhar district of North Kazakhstan region disinfected 307 houses in the city of Kulsary of Atyrau region and some 165,000 square meters,” officials stated.

Some 61,348 evacuated people have returned to their homes, whilst 5,460 remain in temporary accommodation centers. About 22.4 million cubic meters of water from 11,319 private residences and 3,593-yard territories have been drained.

Nevertheless, the water level in the River Zhaiyk remains at a critical level. In this regard, Kazakhstan continues to reduce spending on hospitality events, and today the International IT Forum Digital Bridge 2024, which was to be held from September 5-7 in Astana, was canceled. The organizers of Digital Bridge – the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the international technology park Astana Hub – reported that given favorable circumstances, it will resume its work in 2025.

Last week, on May 15, residents in the town of Kulsary went to the building of the district Akimat (local authority) to demand compensation in the amount of 400,000 tenge ($905) per square meter of flooded houses. On May 16, eyewitnesses reported that outraged residents were still outside the Akimat having pitched tents and blocked the central street. Internet outages were observed in the city.

On May 17, Atyrau Oblast Akim Serik Shapkenov arrived in Kulsary, where he said that when assessing the damage and determining the amount of compensation, many parameters were considered, from the quality of building materials, “down to the number of doors in the house… Now the average compensation per square meter when recognizing a house unfit for habitation is about 200-240,000 tenge per square meter ($540),” – he stated.

Following the results of the tour, the head of the region instructed the Akim of the district to strengthen their explanatory work when familiarizing residents with the results of the assessment.

On May 18, President Tokayev received Prime Minister Bektenov, who reported on progress regarding the floods, a meeting wherein it is said that Tokayev himself did most of the talking. “Heads of local executive bodies are obliged to actively and effectively work with citizens, lucidly explain the state policy and measures taken to address emerging issues and reasonable demands,” Tokayev stated.

“The events in Kulsary, where local residents affected by the disaster expressed dissatisfaction with damage compensation, seem to be caused by two circumstances. First, the stressful situation due to the prolonged flooding in the region, and secondly, there was a breakdown in communications from the local Akimat, which provoked the growing discontent,” political scientist Daniyar Ashimbayevnoted wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to Ashimbayev, it is extremely difficult to learn about the situation in the region from the official resources of the Akimat, whose press releases often pertain to personnel appointments or quotes from the prime minister’s speeches.

“Akim Shapkenov came to talk to people, to put it mildly, not immediately… This is what the head of state was talking about, having heard the report of the Prime Minister and instructed him to strengthen the work, to provide victims with quality housing, to begin repair and construction of civil infrastructure in cities and towns,”Ashimbayev concluded.

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Times of Central Asia

20 May 2024

Students discuss a question during a game of "Zakovat," or Ingenuity," at School No. 2 in the Uzbek city of Zarafshan; image: TCA

Home, Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Lead Story, Life & Culture, Features, Uzbekistan Life & Culture

Educating Uzbekistan: QR Codes, Quizzes and Some Critical Thought

The Times of Central Asia visited a school in Uzbekistan and talked to students and teachers for a report about the government’s push to reform education.

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Break time at a school in Uzbekistan. Clusters of students in uniform – white shirt and dark trousers or skirts – chatter in a classroom. Two stand at the world map on the wall, figuring out where historical events happened. As soon as history teacher Dilobar Yodgorova enters, they form groups and sit at round tables.

The students play “Zakovat,” a quiz designed to increase class participation. The game is based on a Russian show called “What? Where? When?” that later inspired a similar American show.

“Catherine II, the Queen of Russia who lived in the 18th century, sentenced Nikolay Novikov, a famous Russian historian of that time, to 15 years in prison on August 1, 1792, for criticizing her,” Yodgorova says. She goes on: “But for a natural reason, Novikov was released after 4 years. What was the reason for that?”

The students frantically debate the answer within their groups. They only have one minute to respond to the teacher in writing.

The answer? Catherine II died in 1796. Pavel I, who succeeded her, freed Novikov.

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“Zakovat” is the Uzbek word for “ingenuity,” and the game reflects Uzbekistan’s ambitious plans to overhaul a public education system that was poorly equipped to sustain a growing number of children in Central Asia’s most populous country (about 35 million people).

Transforming the education system is critical to shaping a nimble workforce and fostering economic prosperity. Many new school textbooks aim to get students to analyze and assess. The old ones were about memorizing lots of facts.

Many Uzbeks can’t afford private schooling. For more than two decades, children in the state system, which is free of charge, studied at primary and secondary school for 9 years, and colleges or lyceums for the last 3 years of their undergraduate education. In 2019, the system changed. Now most students go through 11 years of streamlined education in the same school. The idea was to provide continuity for students by keeping them in the same environment in the critical last few years of undergraduate schooling.

“In the upper grades, children are formed as individuals and as a team,” Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said in 2017.

Uzbekistan is also improving teaching methods, renovating decrepit school buildings and introducing up-to-date technology and new textbooks that encourage critical thinking even if there are constraints on unfettered investigation and free expression in the wider society. In the last few years, a working group of more than 240 experts has been working on the plan. It has included representatives of international organizations such as the United Nations and USAID. UNESCO conducted a training program for dozens of Uzbek teachers last week.

Higher education remains a weak point. If they have the resources, many Uzbeks go abroad for university. Uzbekistan is among countries with the highest number of students studying at tertiary institutions overseas, according to 2021 data.

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One spring day, The Times of Central Asia visited School No. 2 in the industrial city of Zarafshan in central Navoi region to see how changes were being implemented – and received.

A display of updated – and more colorful – textbooks for 10th grade students in Uzbekistan; image: TCA

In an interview in the teachers´common room, Yodgorova said a new government-provided digital platform had greatly reduced the time that teachers spend on record-keeping. Teachers using the platform can plan and create lessons as well as track students’ progress and achievements. Yodgorova is still busy, tutoring students outside of school to prepare them for university entrance exams.

Yodgorova, who has worked as a history teacher for two decades, said educators can also voluntarily take a teaching exam every three years to hone their skills. The test, conducted by the state Agency for the Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, is first given as a qualification exam to newly hired teachers.

Textbooks have been updated several times during Yodgorova’s career. She said the latest ones contain exercises that encourage students to think critically, whereas the old textbooks had a more one-way approach, drilling information into students.

“We start each lesson with critical thinking exercises that students have been preparing for. This is an interesting process. Students sometimes write essays about historical events and read them to the audience,” Yodgorova said.

The updated 10th grade textbooks for history, literature, the Uzbek language and tarbiya (training), contain tasks aimed at developing communication, and research and problem-solving skills. The design is colorful. QR codes are attached to the new textbooks, allowing students to connect to YouTube tutorials.

Each topic concluded with sections such as “For reflection” – “Creative activity” – “Looking at history” – “For independent activity” – and “On logical reasoning.”

Tarbiya is taught to students from 1st to 11th grade (the age of students is 7-18). The training textbook touches on spiritual-ethical, intellectual, legal, civil, economic, physical, ecological, and aesthetic training. Section titles include – “I’m also responsible for the development of the country” – “The meaning of a free and prosperous life” – “Humanistic ideas of world religions” – “Social networks: what is behind fake news” – “Safe media” – “Secrets of choosing a profession” – and “Family is the bastion of happiness.”

The themes of nation and family emphasize a sense of collective duty, potentially in contrast with the idea of individual autonomy found in liberal academia.

Freedom House, a Washington-based group, said in its 2023 report that there is a tradition of limits on academic freedom in Uzbekistan but that the country’s universities “have slowly expanded their cooperation with foreign counterparts” since 2016, the year that Mirziyoyev became president.

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Teachers and students welcome the improvements of recent years, though some want more fine-tuning.

Gavhar Rahmatova, who teaches the Uzbek language and literature at School No. 1, a different school in Zarafshon, said the new primary school textbooks are too advanced for some students.

“For example, take the 2nd grade Uzbek language textbooks,” said Rahmatova, who teaches Uzbek to students whose first language is Russian. “Students who have just finished learning the alphabet are given complex tasks related to grammar and the topic. Frankly, it is a bit difficult for teachers to explain.”

Shodiyona Samadova, a 17-year-old student, said she wants to pursue a career in medicine. However, she said a heavy workload at school limits her time for studying natural sciences. Academics aside, she attends free volleyball training organized by the school and her team has won several games at the city level. Samadova is also active in preparing school dances with other students.

“Due to the relocation of our family, I had to change schools six times,” Samadova said. “Disadvantages in schools are the inability of some subject teachers to make lessons interesting and to organize them on the basis of interaction with students. I witnessed this situation in almost all schools. I want, all teachers to turn us and ask, ‘What is your opinion?’”

Students typically manage 10-15 subjects, with four to six subjects covered each day, totaling up to five hours of daily class time. Music, painting and physical education are included among the activities.

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Teachers’ salaries are another vulnerability in Uzbekistan, where educators have traditionally received low pay.

However, Eldor Tulyakov, director of the state Development Strategy Center, said in an article in 2023 that teachers’ salaries had increased by almost four times and that the state budget spending on education had increased by 4.3 times in the last six years. Some data estimates the average monthly salary of a public school teacher in Uzbekistan is around $250, still several times lower than the earnings of teachers in neighboring Kazakhstan. Salaries depend on the number of weekly teaching hours as well as years of experience.

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On the spring day when The Times of Central Asia visited the school, students crowded the yard during break. Some kicked a ball around; others talked and laughed. Three boys sat in the shade of a tree and looked at a mobile phone. Inside, children played table tennis on a table without a net. The walls were dark blue years ago but now they are light yellow, making the building interior seem brighter and more spacious.

On the first floor, there used to be a board displaying photos and information about students who are active in the school and winners of various contests and sports competitions. It has been replaced by several posters about the government’s education strategy, the schedule for extracurricular activities and psychological counseling.

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