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Education

Turkmenistan Sets New Rules for Mobile Devices in Schools

In 2020, Turkmenistan’s schools banned the use of mobile phones during classes. Now the government has introduced new rules regulating the use of portable devices in academic settings, seeking to use them as learning tools while addressing concerns about distraction and other potentially negative effects on students. A Ministry of Education order recognizes the value of mobile devices in education, saying they must provide access to learning resources, including multimedia content, and help students organize files that contain textbooks, courses, and other materials in electronic form. The devices must improve “the quality of educational management, especially in educational systems that do not have access to an internet connection,” the order says. However, the ministry order urges educational institutions to be aware of “the potential harm to students' health of small-screen mobile devices that limit the types and amounts of information,” the need to provide storage for mobile devices and the fact that bandwidth capacity decreases when a lot of users connect to the wireless network. It also mandates “ethical rules” that are designed to avoid disruption – setting devices to “silent” or “flight” mode and barring video, photo or audio recordings of students and teaching staff without their permission. The ministry issued the order on May 19 and the Ministry of Justice registered it in early June. In a report in March, UNESCO said that global monitoring showed that 114 education systems had a national ban on mobile phones in schools, representing 58% of countries worldwide. That was a significant increase over 40% in 2025 and just 24% in 2023, according to the U.N. cultural agency. “The growth reflects mounting concerns about declining attention in classrooms, cyberbullying, and the broader influence of digital environments on children,” UNESCO said. But it noted that the global picture was nuanced, with not all countries opting for full bans and instead establishing policies that govern the use of mobile devices in schools. The agency said that the various approaches to mobile device usage in schools show that “countries are still searching for the right balance between limiting distraction and teaching responsible technology use.” Turkmenistan’s new order applies to smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, and other personal electronic devices, and comes amid wider school digitalization efforts. The country maintains tight controls over internet access and online content.

Education

Kyrgyzstan Seeks Foreign Teachers to Ease Education Staff Shortage

A group of deputies in Kyrgyzstan’s Jogorku Kenesh, the national parliament, has drafted legislative amendments aimed at attracting foreign teachers and modernizing the country’s educational infrastructure through new legal and economic incentives. The proposed amendments were submitted for parliamentary consideration. Under the draft legislation, foreign teachers working in Kyrgyzstan would be exempt from income tax and mandatory social security payments. The bill would also grant foreign educators the right to obtain temporary residence permits. Additional measures include tax incentives for educational institutions and exemptions from value-added tax (VAT) on imported educational equipment. The authors of the amendments argue that modernizing Kyrgyzstan’s education system will require the introduction of international teaching standards, digital technologies, and updated educational programs. They say the process will also require the involvement of highly qualified specialists, including foreign teachers with international experience. According to the lawmakers, the proposed legislation is intended to help implement advanced teaching methods and global educational practices, improve student training, create a more competitive academic environment, and strengthen the intellectual potential of younger generations without requiring students to study abroad. The bill’s explanatory note states that a shortage of qualified teachers in schools and universities remains one of the key challenges facing Kyrgyzstan’s education system. The shortage comes as the country experiences a steady increase in student numbers and mounting pressure on educational infrastructure. According to official figures cited in the draft legislation, Kyrgyzstan had 2,175 public schools and 219 private schools in 2025, serving a total of 1,526,800 students with 108,006 teaching staff. The country also has 32 public universities and 41 private universities.

Education

School Digitalization in Turkmenistan Increases Workload for Teachers

The rollout of electronic gradebooks in Turkmenistan, intended to streamline teachers’ work, has had the opposite effect, with educators reporting increased workloads, technical issues, and tighter oversight. As part of a broader push toward digitalization, authorities have required school staff to use the eMekdep system to record grades, manage lesson plans, and generate analytics. According to its developers, the platform enables work “anytime, anywhere” and is designed to reduce paperwork. Teachers, however, say the reality is far less efficient. Electronic journals can only be filled out with a stable internet connection, which remains unreliable even in the capital. “If two people log into our school’s network at the same time, it crashes,” a teacher in Ashgabat said. As a result, many educators are forced to rely on mobile data or home internet at their own expense, an added burden given their relatively low salaries, which range from $175 to $275 per month. Teachers also report contributing financially to school needs, including repairs and equipment, and, in some regions, even covering costs related to hiring cotton pickers. The main challenge, however, is not financial but administrative. Paper gradebooks have not been phased out, leaving teachers to maintain three parallel records: an official paper journal, a working notebook, and the electronic system. This duplication significantly increases the risk of errors. To save data, many teachers first record grades by hand and later transfer them into the system at home, a process that often leads to delays and inaccuracies. Given that the majority of teachers are women, many must also balance these demands with family responsibilities. At the same time, oversight has intensified. Moderators at both school and district levels monitor how teachers fill out gradebooks. Discrepancies between paper and electronic records require written explanations. Deadlines for entering data have also been tightened from up to 10 days previously to just two days, with the possibility of further reduction to 12 hours. Schools may be reprimanded if teachers fail to meet these deadlines. Technical problems remain a major issue. Users report software bugs that can cause pages to take up to 30 seconds to load. “In that time, it’s faster to mark grades for an entire class with a pen,” one teacher noted. Earlier reports have highlighted broader restrictions on access to certain services and efforts to control alternative communication channels, including the confiscation of Starlink satellite internet equipment. In such conditions, digital solutions remain heavily dependent on infrastructure that often struggles to handle the load.

Education

Kazakhstan to Launch Digital Schools Project

Kazakhstan will launch a pilot digital schools project, Qazaq Digital Mektebi, in September 2026, aimed at reducing disparities in educational quality between rural and urban schools. The initiative will target under-enrolled schools in seven regions, according to the Ministry of Education. The project provides for the use of AI technologies to support the teaching of natural sciences, mathematics, and humanities. The approach is intended to help students learn more independently while increasing engagement in the learning process. The pilot phase will be implemented in the North Kazakhstan, Kostanay, Akmola, Pavlodar, West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, and East Kazakhstan regions. Authorities are currently assessing schools’ technical readiness and digital infrastructure. Based on the pilot’s results, the government plans to develop a national educational platform offering digital content tailored for rural schools. The ministry is also considering integrating domestic IT solutions, including the Qalan.kz platform, which incorporates gamification and artificial intelligence elements and has more than 800,000 users. The project is a resident of the technology park Astana Hub. The ministry expects the initiative to improve access to quality education in rural areas and to form part of the country’s broader digital transformation strategy. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that Kazakhstan is accelerating the adoption of digital technologies across key sectors, including education.

Education

Kyrgyz School in Tajikistan Closes Due to Lack of Students

The only Kyrgyz-language school in the Tajik town of Kanibadam has been reorganized following a sharp decline in student enrollment. By the time it closed, only one student and one teacher remained. According to an order from the mayor of Kanibadam, School No. 28 in the village of Sanjizor was converted into a branch of School No. 41, located in the neighboring village of Jahonzeb. Authorities attributed the decision to the low number of students. Firuza Abduvokhidzoda, head of the town's education department, said the sole student and teacher were transferred to Boarding School No. 40. Previously, the school had just one third-grade student, taught by a single teacher who also served as principal. Regional authorities attribute the situation to population outflow. Gulsara Mirzozoda, head of the Sughd Region Education Department, said the number of students and teachers has significantly decreased in recent years due to migration to Kyrgyzstan. Despite the lack of students, the school’s support staff continued to work. The building has a capacity of 208 students. School No. 28 was founded in 1932. At various times, up to 500 students attended, and the curriculum included instruction in the Kyrgyz language alongside standard subjects. As recently as last year, the school had three students, but a further decline in enrollment made it impossible to continue operating in its previous format. Local authorities have also linked the situation to broader regional developments, including border tensions and security concerns. The town previously gained notoriety following a series of violent incidents. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, between March and December 2024, 23 people from seven families were killed in a wave of violence in the area. The killings began on the night of March 28-29, when five members of a single family were found dead in their home.

Food Safety

Bishkek City Hall Tightens School Meal Oversight After Mass Food Poisoning

A mass food poisoning incident at a Bishkek school has prompted city authorities to intensify oversight of school meal programs. Eighty children and four adults were affected after consuming shawarma (flatbread wraps filled with grilled meat) prepared with allegedly poor-quality ingredients, according to the Bishkek City Hall. The Bishkek Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology has launched an inspection of all schools in the capital. Dozens of children sought medical care, reporting symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Twelve individuals were hospitalized, while the remaining victims are receiving outpatient treatment. The school cafeteria involved has been shut down pending an epidemiological investigation. Deputy Mayor of Bishkek Victoria Mozgacheva met with the school's director and underscored the zero-tolerance policy for violations of the approved meal plan and sanitary protocols. “All general education institutions in the capital, regardless of their ownership, have been ordered to strictly follow the approved meal regulations,” the mayor’s office stated. “Any deviation from the menu, which is approved in consultation with medical and epidemiological experts, is strictly prohibited.” Preliminary findings suggest the source of the poisoning may have been improperly handled chicken used in the shawarma served. In response, Bishkek authorities have instructed schools to tighten food quality control measures. The Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan has also initiated legislation to ban the sale of unhealthy food products in close proximity to schools.