Education - The Times Of Central Asia

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Education

Kyrgyz Parliament Backs Foreign Teacher Tax Breaks at First Reading

Kyrgyzstan's parliament has approved a bill at first reading on October 21 that would introduce tax breaks for foreign teachers, exempting eligible educators from income tax and mandatory social security contributions. The measure is intended to attract specialists in engineering, technology, and other subjects where educational institutions face staff shortages. The legislation, introduced in April by 12 lawmakers, was backed by parliamentary committees on October 20. The Times of Central Asia reported on the proposal in May 2026. The proposed changes would also allow foreign teachers to obtain temporary residence permits. Educational institutions would be eligible for exemptions from value-added tax (VAT) on imported educational equipment. One of the bill's sponsors, lawmaker Altynbek Kudaiberdiev, clarified that the exemptions would not apply to all foreign educators. According to him, most foreign teachers currently working in Kyrgyzstan come from Russia and Kazakhstan. He said the aim was to attract specialists from other countries, including native speakers of foreign languages and information technology instructors. Minister of Science, Higher Education, and Innovation Gulzat Isamatova reported shortages of university instructors in fields the government considers priorities for the economy. These include engineering, mining, hydropower, agricultural machinery, medicine, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The minister said tax incentives could help educational institutions recruit specialists from abroad. According to figures presented during the discussion, approximately 700 foreign educators work in Kyrgyzstan. During the debate, some lawmakers questioned the potential loss of tax revenue and whether the exemptions would be fair to local teachers, who would not receive the same benefits. MP Ulan Primov called for clearer eligibility criteria and an assessment of the impact on government revenue. The amendments have not yet taken effect. Schools also face longstanding staffing shortages. According to the Education Ministry, Kyrgyzstan's schools were short of 947 teachers at the end of the 2024–2025 academic year, particularly in mathematics, Russian language, and history.

Kindergarten Privatization

Tashkent Faces Kindergarten Shortage as Authorities Propose Sales

Uzbekistan has earmarked kindergartens for possible sale, including some still in use, even as Tashkent faces a shortage of 65,000 preschool places. Officials say the properties must continue to be used as kindergartens, but have not said how much their new owners could charge parents. Gazeta.uz reported plans to sell around ten kindergartens following an October 8 press conference held by Sohibjon Murodov, director of the State Assets Management Agency. The published privatization list includes state kindergarten No. 58 in Tashkent’s Yakkasaroy district, which has a capacity of 120 children. Murodov said the building is very old and claimed that it does not even have a foundation. The children are to be transferred to a new state kindergarten with 720 places, currently under construction in the same neighborhood. The vacated 0.56-hectare plot is expected to be sold on the condition that a private kindergarten is established there. Murodov said the Yakkasaroy property had not yet been put up for auction and that inclusion on the privatization list does not necessarily mean a property will be sold. If residents' objections are found to be justified, individual properties could be removed from the program in coordination with the Presidential Administration. In Kashkadarya Region, another kindergarten on the list belongs to a state-owned oil and gas company but is already leased to a private operator. Selling it would therefore transfer ownership of a facility that is already privately run. The proposed sales have also exposed differences between national and city authorities. Tashkent Mayor Shavkat Umurzakov opposes transferring land belonging to state schools and kindergartens to private education projects, including through public-private partnerships. He argues that such sites should be reserved for state institutions. The State Assets Management Agency, by contrast, allows kindergarten properties to be sold provided they retain their educational purpose. The potential cost to parents is a particular concern. According to an estimate based on crowdsourced data cited by Anhor.uz, the average monthly fee for a private kindergarten in Tashkent was around 3.8 million soums (approximately $315) in May 2026. Fees at state kindergartens are regulated by the government and increased by approximately 6.8% in September 2026. Even after the increase, a standard nine-hour place in Tashkent costs around 290,500 soums ($24) a month, less than one-tenth of the estimated private-sector average. Tashkent authorities plan to create 40,000 additional places by 2030 and increase preschool enrollment to 92%. In October, plans for 28 new institutions with a combined capacity of 16,000 places were presented to the president. Even so, the proposed 40,000 new places would be 25,000 fewer than the city's estimated current shortage, although demand may change by 2030. According to city administration figures reported by Gazeta.uz, preschool enrollment rates in 11 of the capital's 12 districts are projected to be lower in 2026 than in 2023. The largest declines are projected in Sergeli, Yakkasaroy, and Bektemir districts. Authorities have not explained the reasons. Across Uzbekistan, however, preschool enrollment rose from 27% in 2017 to approximately 75% in 2025, according...

Assistive Technology

Teen in Kazakhstan Develops AI Sign Language Translator

Fifteen-year-old Sanzhar Yerezhepov is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) translator to make online information more accessible to deaf people in Kazakhstan. Called Tusin (“Understand”), the platform converts speech and text into lifelike sign language videos that reproduce facial expressions as well as hand movements. Yerezhepov attends Daryn, a specialized school for gifted children in Kokshetau, northern Kazakhstan. A boarding school for children with hearing and speech impairments is located nearby. Watching its students communicate in sign language made him wonder how easily they could access information online, giving him the idea for Tusin. Yerezhepov is from Shiyeli, a small village in Kazakhstan’s Burabay district. Neither of his parents works in science or IT. He is now working with the Kazakhstan Society of the Deaf to test an early version of Tusin and says five organizations have expressed willingness to work with him. The project reached the semifinals of an IT competition at Astana Hub, Kazakhstan’s international technology park for startups. In an interview with The Times of Central Asia, Yerezhepov explains why translating into sign language is more complicated than adding subtitles. He discusses the medical startup he put on hold and what he hopes to change in Kazakhstan’s education system. TCA: Tusin translates online content into sign language, but many videos already have subtitles. Why are those sometimes not enough for deaf viewers? Yerezhepov: For some deaf people, especially those whose primary language is sign language, understanding written text can be difficult. First, subtitles are not always available in a language they are comfortable with. They are often automatically generated and do not convey information accurately. Second, sign language has its own grammar and structure. So even someone living in Kazakhstan may have difficulty understanding subtitles in Kazakh or Russian. Many deaf people can read subtitles fluently, but others need sign language translation. TCA: Isn’t sign language the same around the world? Yerezhepov: No. Different countries use different sign languages. There is no single universal sign language that everyone on Earth understands. TCA: So which sign language is used in Kazakhstan? Yerezhepov: Kazakhstan, like some other former Soviet countries, uses Russian Sign Language. We do not have a separate Kazakh Sign Language, although some signs have been adapted. TCA: How do you teach artificial intelligence to understand and reproduce signs? Who checks its work? Yerezhepov: We work with representatives of the Akmola branch of the Kazakhstan Society of the Deaf and with sign language interpreters. Together, we examine each sign, check how accurately it is reproduced, and analyze the results. We have already demonstrated our technology to deaf and hard-of-hearing people, and they understand what the platform communicates. TCA: A sign can change meaning depending on the situation. How does Tusin handle that? Yerezhepov: Quite well, although we are still working on it. The same sign can have different meanings depending on the context. That is exactly the problem we are addressing with artificial intelligence, which can take context into account and determine what is being communicated. Our platform...

Migrant School Fees

Russian Lawmakers Propose School Fees for Central Asian Migrants’ Children

Russia relies on millions of workers from Central Asia, but lawmakers want to charge some of their children, typically aged 15–17, for the final two years of public schooling. The move comes after tougher enrollment rules that have left thousands of migrant children struggling to attend Russian schools. The proposal, submitted to the government by deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) on October 14, would require foreign citizens and stateless people to pay for education in grades 10 and 11. LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky argued that migrant families should bear the costs of educating their children in Russian upper-secondary schools, allowing public funds to be redirected toward Russian students. The party claimed that more than 130,000 foreign children attend grades 10–11, costing the state over 37 billion rubles (about $440 million) annually. However, these figures contradict data from Russia's Ministry of Education analyzed by the data project Tochno, which found approximately 130,000 foreign pupils and another 3,000 stateless pupils enrolled across all school grades in 2025–26, with only 4% of foreign pupils attending grades 10–11. That would put the number of foreign pupils in the final two grades at roughly 5,200, casting doubt on the LDPR's estimated savings. Growing Pressure on Migrant Families The proposed fees follow a series of Russian restrictions that have already made it more difficult for Central Asian families to educate their children in Russia. Since April 2025, foreign children seeking admission to Russian schools have been required to demonstrate sufficient Russian-language proficiency and provide documentation establishing their legal residence. Enrollment among children from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan fell by 27% in the 2025–26 school year, from approximately 122,000 to 89,000. In January 2026, Tajikistan's Minister of Education and Science Rahim Saidzoda reported that approximately 9,000 Tajik children had returned from Russia during 2025 following difficulties continuing their education there. Kyrgyzstan's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) raises a separate legal question. The EAEU treaty recognizes the right of migrant workers' children to receive education in the country where their parents work, subject to that country's legislation. However, it does not explicitly guarantee free tuition, leaving unclear whether children of workers from EAEU member states would qualify for exemptions. For migrant families, the immediate consequences would depend on the eventual tuition charges and exemptions. Some parents might choose vocational education for their children after grade nine, while others could leave them with relatives in their home countries rather than incur additional schooling expenses in Russia. Additional education costs could discourage migrant workers from bringing their families to Russia, even as the country continues to rely on Central Asian labor. Central Asia's Dependence on Remittances The proposed fees would affect families whose earnings are often vital to their home countries' economies. Tajikistan is the most dependent on remittances relative to the size of its economy, Kyrgyzstan relies particularly heavily on earnings from Russia, and Uzbekistan receives the largest remittance inflows in absolute terms. According to The Times of Central Asia's Central Asia Balance...

Education

New OECD Assessment Reveals Central Asia’s Student Performance

International student assessments help governments identify where students are succeeding, where they are falling behind and how learning outcomes are changing over time. The Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, tests how well 15-year-olds can apply what they have learned in science, mathematics and reading to real-world problems. Run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the assessment is intended to identify weaknesses and track whether learning improves over time. The results released on September 8 show improvement in some areas, declines in others and significant gaps in the regional data. PISA 2025 placed particular emphasis on science and introduced a new assessment of computational problem-solving, part of its broader work on learning in the digital world. What the Results Show Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan participated nationally. Tajikistan was represented by Dushanbe rather than a national sample, while Turkmenistan did not participate. Participant Science Math Reading Comp. ProblemSolving Kazakhstan 420 414 385 449 Kyrgyzstan 363 364 344 388 Dushanbe, TJK 334 382 368 — Uzbekistan 438 N/A N/A 402 OECD average 482 463 461 500 Kazakhstan recorded the highest published regional scores in mathematics, reading and computational problem-solving, while Uzbekistan recorded the highest score in science. Uzbekistan’s mathematics and reading results were not published, preventing a complete comparison across the three core subjects. Central Asia remained below OECD averages, but Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan scored higher than several EU member states in some subjects. Across OECD countries, average mathematics and reading performance fell to the lowest levels yet recorded by PISA. Science was comparatively stable. What Changed The latest scores and the longer-term trends do not always point in the same direction. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan both participated in PISA in 2022, while Kyrgyzstan’s previous participation was in 2009. Country ComparisonPeriod Science Math Reading Kazakhstan 2022–2025 −4 −12 −1 Kyrgyzstan 2009–2025 +33 +33 +30 Uzbekistan 2022–2025 +83 N/A N/A Kazakhstan’s mathematics score fell by about 12 points from 2022, a statistically significant decline for the country. Its smaller declines in science and reading were not statistically significant. Kyrgyzstan improved in mathematics, reading and science compared with its previous participation. The gains cover 16 years rather than a single PISA cycle. Uzbekistan recorded the largest movement in the regional results. Its science score rose from 355 in 2022 to 438 in 2025, an increase of 83 points. That was also the largest science gain among education systems with comparable results worldwide and more than twice the next-largest increase of 38 points. What Other Assessments Show Other international assessments help put the larger changes in context. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were the only Central Asian countries to participate in the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS. The assessment tests younger students and uses a different methodology from PISA. Among eighth-graders, Kazakhstan scored 443 in science and Uzbekistan 396. Two years later, PISA recorded science scores of 420 for Kazakhstan and 438 for Uzbekistan. The assessments cover different students and testing methods, so the scores cannot be compared directly....

Education

Kazakhstan Tests AI After Finding 700 Errors in School Textbooks

Kazakhstan is testing artificial intelligence (AI) as part of an overhaul of school textbooks after the Education Ministry identified around 700 errors in existing educational materials. A pilot digital textbook platform is already being used in 40 schools while the authorities consider how AI could improve future editions. One of the more striking errors is in an 11th-grade history textbook, which still refers to the capital as Nur-Sultan, even though the name Astana was restored in September 2022. Education Minister Zhuldyz Suleimenova confirmed on September 8 that the textbook, last updated in 2024, will be reissued next year. Suleimenova referred to the pilot as AI-oqulyq, a name combining AI with oqulyq, the Kazakh word for textbook. It brings school textbooks together on a single platform and incorporates AI tools for working with their content. The ministry’s review covered educational materials from different publishers across 16 subjects. The problems identified include outdated information and factual inaccuracies. Publishers are required to correct and reissue problematic books at their own expense. The ministry has also referred the matter to the Department of Economic Investigations, part of the Financial Monitoring Agency, because some of the same errors remained despite an earlier allocation of public funds. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly raised the issue of textbook quality in August. He was particularly critical of history materials containing unreliable information and accounts of supposed heroes and events that, he said, never existed. Tokayev argued that patriotic education should not be based on falsified history. AI is also becoming part of Kazakhstan’s school curriculum. Digital Literacy in grades 1–4 is being expanded to include artificial intelligence, while Computer Science in grades 5–11 is becoming Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. In grades 10–11, students are expected to study machine learning and neural networks and learn how to analyze data. Separately, Kazakhstan has begun piloting a national AI-powered education platform intended to personalize learning by adapting assignments to students’ abilities and identifying gaps in their knowledge. The first stage began in September in 10 small rural schools, with further expansion planned. At university level, Qazaq AI Research University in Astana is admitting around 600 students in its first intake for the 2026–27 academic year. Kazakhstan is moving relatively quickly to introduce the technology into schools, while education systems elsewhere continue to debate how generative AI should be used. UNESCO recommends a human-centered approach, with teacher training and safeguards to protect children and their personal data. Using the technology to check textbooks carries its own risk because generative AI can produce convincing text containing false information or incorrect dates. AI may help identify inconsistencies across large amounts of material, but expert review remains necessary before textbooks are published. For the Education Ministry, however, the more immediate challenge is correcting the hundreds of errors already found in school materials. The AI-oqulyq pilot will test whether the technology can help prevent similar mistakes from reaching classrooms.