KYRGYZSTAN: Universities to stay closed during poll

All higher education institutions in southern Kyrgyzstan, scene of ethnic violence earlier this year, will remain closed during upcoming elections, delaying the start of the academic year until after the poll.

Schools in the south started on time on 1 September, despite facing a severe shortage of teachers and low enrolments as many families had fled the area during ethnic clashes. However, universities have been closed virtually since the violent outbreaks in June. Only a few reopened briefly in late June to allow students to take final examinations.

Last month Deputy Prime Minister Oktomkhan Abdullaeva met local authorities, who had raised security concerns, in the southern city of Osh. After the meeting he said the academic year for universities would begin on 18 October.

Education Minister Kanat Sadykov said in a radio interview in August that the postponement was intended to prevent students from being "manipulated or mobilised" by political groups during the election campaign.

Universities were centres of political manoeuvring and violence in May and June during ethnic unrest that killed almost 400 people and caused tens of thousands to flee the country.

Meanwhile at least 14 universities will stay closed indefinitely owing to "irregularities in the licence obtaining process", according to an Education Ministry spokeswoman. They include the People's Friendship University in the southern city of Jalalabad which was gutted by fire during tensions in May.

The private university was built by businessman and local Uzbek leader Kadyrjan Batyrov.

Joseph Stetar, a professor of comparative education at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, US, and a former State Department policy specialist at the US embassy in Bishkek, said the postponement was "a way of suppressing some of the tension".

"By closing the universities you prevent the natural clustering of politicised groups within the universities. It has the potential of spilling outside the universities," Stetar told University World News.

Universities in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad became particular targets during the recent unrest because of political rivalries on campus. In Osh, the large state universities are centres of Kyrgyz nationalism, while the People's Friendship University was a centre for Uzbek nationalists. During the June unrest armed groups attempted to influence students in the dormitories, according to reports.

However, universities are also key to the economic development of the impoverished south.

"It is hard for me to understand the argument [of Kyrgyz authorities] that it will strengthen the community to close universities," Stetar said. "Why would they want to close them when they are important for economic development?

"It is strange logic by the government because students are mostly from the south and they are already participating in the elections, promoting particular parties. They are already part of this political campaign," said Bakyt Beshimov, a former opposition member of the Kyrgyz parliament and a former president of Osh State University.

He said it also showed a lack of confidence by the government in its ability to maintain security in the region, and particularly in universities.

Beshimov, now in exile, saw the extended closure as damaging to the region's education and development. "Students have not participated in classes for months. It is a huge problem, how can they finish their education? This just means that education is not the priority for the government as it was before."

In Osh and Jalalabad the number of students wanting to register in universities has declined dramatically, with the numbers down 90% this year compared with the last academic year. In one Jalalabad university the number of new students has dropped from 10,000 to just 1,000 this year, Beshimov said.

"They did not come to study. The ethnic crisis has had a catastrophic effect. It is the decision of parents and students because they are scared and young people in the south of the country want to go to Bishkek which is safer. This means that education levels, which are already low in the south, will continue to degrade."

Links

KYRGYZSTAN: University politicisation to continue
KYRGYZSTAN: Exams go ahead at damaged universities
KYRGYZSTAN: Foreign students evacuated

yojana.sharma@uw-news.com