By End of Year, Kyrgyz Authorities Want to Insure All Houses in the Country

The Chairman of the Kyrgyzstan Cabinet of Ministers, Akylbek Japarov, instructed specialized government agencies to ensure the safety of all houses in the country, especially those in mudflow-prone areas. At the meeting devoted to natural disaster risk management, Japarov assigned specialized government agencies to ensure the safety of all houses in Kyrgyzstan. Thus, according to the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, the authorities will provide financial protection to citizens in case of natural disasters. This year, powerful mudslides flooded the south of Kyrgyzstan and the Issyk-Kul region. Over 5,000 households, dozens of social facilities, and hundreds of kilometers of roads were damaged. “Insurance will provide financial protection for citizens in such situations and minimize the consequences for families who lost their homes. Insurance will be an important tool to help people recover faster from natural disasters and reduce the burden on the state budget,” Japarov said. The head of the Cabinet emphasized that due to global warming, the number of natural disasters will continue to grow. Compulsory home insurance will ensure protection for citizens. It should be noted that the law on compulsory real estate insurance came into force in Kyrgyzstan on August 26, 2024. According to the law, residents must insure their real estate against fire and natural disasters. The State Insurance Organization (SIO) explained to The Times of Central Asia that legislative changes would be implemented gradually. The law on compulsory home insurance was first adopted in 2016, but the authorities postponed its implementation. There is no system of fines for lack of such insurance, at least not yet. “It is not profitable for private firms to engage in home insurance, as the rate is only 0.12%. That is, the cost of insurance is KGS 600 ($8), while payouts can be multi-million: KGS 500,000 ($6,000) for a village and KGS 1 mln ($12,000) for a city. Today in Kyrgyzstan, 143 thousand residences are insured,” the SIO noted.

Lessons in Self-Defense for Kindergarten Kazakhs

From September 1, Kazakhstan will introduce “Personal Safety” lessons to the curricula of its kindergartens, schools, and colleges. Developed by Kazakhstan's Ministry of Education, the program of 130 training sessions aims to teach children the basics of self-defense and develop a responsible attitude towards their own and others' safety. According to Nasymzhan Ospanova, Chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights, the lessons are tempered according to the children's age and developmental level to help motivate and support participants. Conducted in batches of weekly ten-minute classes, repeated three times a year, the training courses will include practical tips, games, interactive teaching methods, demonstrations, and videos, making the material accessible and exciting for children of all ages. It is worth noting that over the past three years, the number of children who have committed criminal offenses has increased by 20.3%. In 2023 alone, 1,823 juveniles were convicted. In most cases, crimes are committed by teenagers 16 - 17 years old (80.4%), with about 93.6% of juvenile offenders being boys. Statistics confirm that crime is higher among those with little education and those living in difficult situations. Thus, the share of those who neither study and nor work is 51.9%, the share of those who study in colleges is 26.9%, and in schools, gymnasiums, and lyceums, 20.6%.