80% of private schools in Kyrgyzstan charge up to 40,000 KGS for tuition

During an open session at the Ministry of Justice, representatives of Kyrgyzstan’s private schools highlighted the risks to the entire education sector posed by the proposed regulation of tuition fees and the potential revocation of licences without a court ruling.

Ekaterina Kasymova, a representative of the Association of Private Schools of the Kyrgyz Republic, made this appeal.

According to her, private schools are currently facing two key problems. The first is the discussion of anti-monopoly price regulation. Kasymova noted that the entire sector has come to be associated with a few elite international schools, where tuition can cost up to 1.3 million KGS per month.

However, according to the association, around 80% of private schools charge between 8,000 and 40,000 KGS for tuition.

“We have all now been lumped together with the group of five premium schools,” she stated.

The second issue concerns a draft law providing for the revocation of private schools’ licences without a court hearing. The association believes that such a mechanism carries a risk of corruption and could lead to children’s access to education being restricted in the event of educational institutions closing.

Kasymova also emphasised that 98% of the founders of private nurseries and schools in Kyrgyzstan are women, so the changes directly affect the women’s entrepreneurship sector.