The Situation of Children and Young People at the Regional Level in

Prepared by Kyrgyzstan Country Statistical Team Co-ordinator: Imankadyr Rysaliev National Statistical Committee,

MONEE Country Analytical Report November 2004

The project to monitor the impact of economic and social change on children in Eastern and Central Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (MONEE) was initiated at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in 1992. The project seeks to monitor, analyse and disseminate information on economic and social trends affecting children’s rights and wellbeing in countries in the . A key feature of the Project is a network of correspondents in the 27 National Statistical Offices (NSOs). On an annual basis these correspondents complete an extensive data template which in turn is used for calculating indicators, supporting research of the project and, in due course, being made publicly available as the TransMonee database and in tables and graphs of the Innocenti Social Monitor.

For a number of years, each participating NSO prepared a Country Analytical Report based on extensive outline from UNICEF IRC on a different theme on the situation of children every year. These analytical reports have provided valuable input into the research at UNICEF IRC and, as significantly, have also served as important national documents on monitoring aspects of child wellbeing in the countries. Some of these Country Analytical Reports have been issued by the NSOs (in the national language) as part of their publication programme.

UNICEF IRC attaches great value to these national assessments of the situation of children and is committed to promote the efforts, including through translating the reports into English (where the submitted report has been in Russian) and offering its website to make them accessible to a wider research audience. The Country Analytical Reports are owned and authored by the National Statistical Offices and are not the intellectual property of UNICEF (see below).

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Introduction

During the last inter-census period (1989-1999), significant administrative and territorial changes have occurred. For the purpose of improving the regional division of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Djalal-Abad, Narynsk, Talassk and Chuya were formed on the basis of the Issyk-Kul and Regions and districts of republican subordination by Resolution of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, dated 14 December 1990 (see Appendix).

After the 1999 population census, in October of the same year, the Region was formed within the administrative boundaries of the Batken, Kadamzhaisk and Lyailyaksk districts and the cities of Kyzyl-Kiy and Sylyukt of the .

Table 1. Administrative-territorial division according to the 1989 and 1999 censuses.

Number of administrative-territorial units Density , regions districts cities aiyl rural persons per 1 (excluding total inc. those of urban keneshes population sq. km. city republican type centres

districts) and region al subordination

1989 (according to the census on 12 January) Kyrgyz Republic 2 40 21 16 29 390 1778 21,6 Issyk-Kul Region 10 4 4 7 99 322 7,3 Osh Region 17 10 8 14 165 1047 25,9 Cities and districts

of republican subordination 13 6 3 7 126 408 53,7 Frunze City Council - 1 1 1 - 1

1999 (according to the census on 24 March)

Kyrgyz Republic 7 39 21 14 29 430 1802 24,1 3 3 2 5 29 189 22,5 Djalal-Abad Region 8 5 5 8 68 415 25,8 Issyk-Kul Region 5 3 2 5 58 181 9,6 Narynsk Region 5 1 1 2 56 132 5,5 Osh Region 7 3 1 2 79 467 40,3 Talassk Region 4 1 1 1 35 90 17,5 Chuya Region 7 4 1 5 105 327 75,5 Gorkenesh Bishkek - 1 1 1 - 1

The existing administrative-territorial division of the Kyrgyz Republic is as follows: the country consists of 7 regions, the capital (Bishkek), as well as the city of Osh, which is separated from the Osh Region (2003) and, together with the capital, has the status of a city of republican subordination.

Each region consists of districts and cities of regional subordination; districts include of district subordination, urban-type villages and aiyl keneshs, which, in turn, combine rural population centres.

Significant transformations have affected certain villages, which have been transformed into towns: in 2000, the of Betkan was formed, in 2001 – the town of Isfan, in 2003 – the town of , and in 2004 – the town of Kerben.

Table 2. Territory and administrative-territorial division of the Kyrgyz Republic

as of 01 January 2004

Territory, Number of administrative-territorial units thou. sq. km. districts cities villages aiyl (excluding city urban type keneshes districts)

Kyrgyz Republic 199.9 40 24 2 28 442

Batken Region 17.0 3 4 5 30

Djalal-Abad Region 33.7 8 6 7 69

Issyk-Kul Region 43.1 5 3 5 58

Narynsk Region 45.2 5 1 2 61

Osh Region 7 3 2 83 29.2 } Gorkenesh Osh 1 - 1 - 1

Talassk Region 11.4 4 1 1 36

Chuya Region 8 4 5 104 20.3 } Gorkenesh Bishkek 1 - 1 1 -

1 Including population centres subordinate to the city keneshes of Bishkek and Osh. 2 As of 1 November 2004, there were 25 cities in the country.

Employment by region

There are major differences in the structure of population employment and the growth rate of employment by regions of the Republic, which is a result of their uneven and unbalanced economic development, as well as geographic location.

The fullest information on changes in the regional labour markets during the period from 1989 to 1999 is provided by the material of the last two population censuses (1989 and 1999), especially since the 1989 data were recalculated according to the 1999 territorial division. Comparison of the data of the two censuses has shown that the numbers of the employed population over the age of 15 years fell by 3.6 per cent between 1989 and 1999.

A considerable influence was exerted on the employment figures on the regional level by both economic factors and the significant external and internal migration processes. A rise in population employment occurred during this period only in the south of the Republic, that is, in the Osh (by 20.8 per cent), Djalal-Abad (by 5.9 per cent) and Batken (by 10.9 per cent) Regions. The high natural population growth in these regions, combined with a relatively low population outflow, led to a considerable rise in the numbers of the able-bodied population, which, in the main, found employment in the agricultural sector. The rest of the Republic’s territory (apart from the Talassk Region) manifested a drop in employment figures: in the Chuya Region by 24 per cent, the Issyk-Kul – by 16.7 per cent, the Narynsk – by 6 per cent, and the city of Bishkek - by 15 per cent. The drop in employment in the Issyk-Kul and Narynsk regions was influenced by both economic factors and a significant population migration to the city of Bishkek, and in the Chuya Region – emigration from the Kyrgyz Republic. The Issyk-Kul and Talassk Regions also lost part of their populations owing to emigration of the Slav population and Germans from the Republic.

The following period, from 1999 to 2003 inclusively, can be analysed from the balance of labour resources figures. Over the past five years, employment in the Republic has risen by 4.1 per cent. The rise in population employment took place, in the main, on the basis of employment growth in the informal sector: people employed on peasant farms, the self- employed and those hired by individuals.

Employment rose in all parts of the Republic, with the exception of the Chuya Region, where it fell by 1.1 per cent. The drop in employment in the Chuya Region was a result of a high level of emigration from the Republic by the Slav population. This is the only region in the Republic where the population numbers fall every year.

Under the conditions of the demographic growth, a more precise impression of the changes taking place on the labour market over the last decade is provided by the indicator of the employment level.

Table 3. Level of employment of the able-bodied population (according to labour resource balance data; per cent)

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Kyrgyz Republic 65.2 63.8 63.1 62.3 61.7 Batken Region 66.8 66.2 64.9 63.6 62.2 Djalal-Abad Region 69.3 67.1 65.4 63.7 62.6 Issyk-Kul Region 65.5 64.1 63.3 61.9 60.9 Narynsk Region 67.2 66.0 65.1 64.9 64.1 Osh Region (including the city of Osh) 73.3 71.1 69.5 67.9 66.1 Talassk Region 70.4 69.0 68.1 66.8 66.6 Chuya Region 62.1 60.1 59.8 59.5 58.8 Bishkek 52.6 52.8 53.4 54.0 55.7

The increase in the able-bodied population greatly outstrips the growth in the numbers of the population employed, as a result of which the level of employment among the population of working age in the Republic fell from 65.2 per cent in 1999 to 61.7 per cent in 2003. The drop in the employment level was observed in all the regions of the Republic, apart from the city of Bishkek, where it rose by more than 3 per cent points.

Figure 1. Distribution of the employed population by sector of the economy and territory

100%

22.3 25.0 28.0 30.4 30.7 33.2 80% 37.5 37.5 3.8 9.1 56.3 5.6 7.1 4.3 77.5 60% 15.8 10.7 8.2

40% 73.9 19.5 66.0 64.0 65.0 64.9 51.9 54.3 51.0

20% 20.1 24.2

2.4 0% Kyrgyz Issyk-Kul Djalal- Narynsk Batken Osh Region Talassk Chuisk Bishkek Osh Republic Region Abad Region Region Region Region Region

Agriculture Industry Services

This chart shows that agriculture is the predominant sphere of employment in the Republic, accounting for about 52 per cent of the entire work force. The highest proportion of agricultural employment is found in the Osh, Djalal-Abad, Batken, Talassk and Narynsk Regions, where from 64 to 74 per cent of the entire working population were employed in this sector. The main production units in agriculture are peasant farms, based on one or several households.

The share of the population engaged in industry and construction was about 11 per cent. Historically, two industrial centres have taken shape in the Republic, located in the Chuya and Ferghana valleys. Over 58 per cent of all workers in this sector were in the city of Bishkek and the Chuya Region, where their respective shares of the total employed population amounted to 20 per cent and 16 per cent. The other most significant centres of this sector were the Osh and Djalal-Abad regions and the city of Osh, which accounted for 27 per cent of the population engaged in industry and construction. The industrial activities here were concentrated, mainly, in regional centres and a few industrially developed towns. The services sector accounted for 38 per cent of the Republic’s employed population. A third of them worked in the city of Bishkek, where they constituted 78 per cent of the total work force. Bishkek, as the Republic’s capital, is a political, scientific, cultural and educational centre. The main government institutions of the republican level, of the city itself, its districts and the Chuya Region are concentrated here. At the same time, a network of wholesale markets of international significance has taken shape in the city.

In the other regions of the Republic (apart from Osh), the share of the services sphere in employment was comparatively low and varied between 22 per cent in the Osh Region and 33 per cent in the Chuya Region. The highest proportion of the employed population in the services sphere was found in regional centres.

The employment level in regions with a high proportion of agriculture was quite high, since all able-bodied family members, including children and people above working age, participate in agricultural work. The labour of children and adolescents is used extensively in agricultural activities. They participate in field work and caring for livestock.

According to the data of a manpower study carried out in 2003, 13.3 thousand adolescents aged 15 years were working, 95 per cent of them in agriculture. Children worked helping family members or were hired by individuals.

Child labour was not widespread in the remaining types of activity. In the cities, children work mostly employed in performing such activities as pulling loads on carts and selling cold drinks at the markets. In the vacation zone of the Issyk-Kul Region, in the summer, children engage in small-scale trading on the beaches. No special investigations have been made into the problem of child labour, so there are no statistics available on this. It might be stated, however, that the impact of child labour on the labour market is minimal with respect to the replacement of skilled workers with unskilled child labour and reduction of wages.

There are considerable regional differences in the level of unemployment, owing to the branch structure of employment, the level of industrial and social development, the existing traditions and way of life and a number of other factors.

The unemployment level is higher in the industrially developed regions, such as the cities of Bishkek and Osh, and the Chuya Region, where 13.2 per cent, 11.3 per cent and 10.4 per cent of the able-bodied population were out of work, respectively, while the average for the Republic as a whole was 9.9 per cent. The high unemployment level in the industrially developed regions is directly associated with crisis phenomena in the economy – the closure or significant cut-backs in the activities of many enterprises in the production sphere. The situation on the labour markets of the city of Bishkek and the Chuya Region is greatly exacerbated by migration of the rural population to the cities in search of work.

The lowest level of unemployment is found in the regions with a high proportion of employment in the agricultural sector: in the Osh Region (4 per cent), the Talassk (6.3 per cent) and Djalal-Abad Regions (7.2 per cent). The land reform, when virtually every family was able to receive a plot of land for its own use, made it possible to resolve, to some extent, the problem of employment in the countryside. It cannot be said, however, that the problem of employment in the countryside has been fully resolved. In rural areas, where, in the main, the families are large, there is an excess of manpower, which cannot be fully engaged in the agricultural sector alone.

Over the years of reform of the economy, there has been a considerable rise in the inter- regional differentiation in wage levels.

Figure 2. Ratio of the average wage in regions to the average level in the Republic as a whole (per cent)

160.0 136.6 140.0 133.7 118.5 120.0 108.6 91.8 93.5 100.0 89.4 90.5 90.9 86.7 87.2 76.9 80.6 80.0 61.7 66.8 65.8 60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0 Batken Djalal-Abad Issyk-Kul Narynsk Osh Region Talassk Chuisk Bishkek Region Region Region Region (inc. Osh) Region Region

1990 2003

In 1990, the difference between the highest and lowest wages was 37 per cent, but by 2003 this indicator had reached 2.7-fold. In 1990, wages were above the average for the Republic as a whole in Bishkek (by 18 per cent) and the Chuya Region (by 9 per cent). In the remaining regions, they varied between 87 per cent and 92 per cent. In 2003, the average wage in Bishkek was already 37 per cent above the overall average and that in the Issyk-Kul Region – 34 per cent higher. At the same time, in the Osh, Talassk and Batken regions, it stood at 62-66 per cent of the republican average.

Inter-regional differentiation in wage levels was determined to a considerable extent by the branch development. Thus, 63 per cent of transport and communications enterprises, 48 per cent of those in the manufacturing industry, 69 per cent of hotels and restaurants, 49 per cent of construction organisations and 67 per cent of financial institutions, where employees are more highly paid, were concentrated in the capital. In the remaining regions of the Republic, among those in enterprises, institutions and organisations there is a high proportion of workers in the social sphere, where the wage level is lower: public health, education, provision of municipal, personal and social services. Over the last decade, the average wage in the Issyk-Kul Region has risen sharply, owing to the operations on its territory of the gold- mining joint venture Kumtor Operating Company, in which the wages are among the highest in the Republic.

Housing

In the Kyrgyz Republic, over recent years, the housing provision per person has amounted to an average of 12.5 square metres of overall living space, including 14.1 square metres in cities and 11.6 square metres in rural areas.

According to the 1999 population census, 30 per cent of the Republic’s population is in need of improved housing. For instance, 4 per cent of the total population have, on average, less than 5 square metres living space per person; 26 per cent – 5-8 square metres, 33 per cent – 9- 12 square metres; and 26 per cent - 13-19 square metres of overall living space. Over 12 per cent of the population occupied housing averaging 20 square metres or more of overall living space per person.

In certain regions of the Republic, the provision of living space per person is higher than for the Republic as a whole. In the Talassk and Chuya Regions, for example, the average is 14-15 square metres overall living space per person. In the Issyk-Kul, Narynsk and Djalal-Abad Regions, the figure is 12-13 square metres, in the Batken and Osh regions – 11 square metres. In the Republic’s capital, the average per person is 14 square metres of overall living space and in the city of Osh - about 11 square metres.

In the Republic as a whole, more than half the housing fund is supplied with gas and, in recent years, 37 per cent has been supplied with water and 29 per cent with a sewage system; 26 per cent of the housing fund has central heating, 22 per cent has bathrooms, but only about 14 per cent of the housing fund has a hot water supply system.

The level at which the housing fund is provided with modern conveniences differs greatly between urban and rural areas. In urban areas, the provision of such amenities is considerably higher than in rural ones. Thus, in urban areas, on average 76 per cent of the housing fund has a water supply, the figures for gas and a sewage system vary from 69 to 71 per cent, over 60 per cent of the housing fund has central heating and about 40 per cent – a hot water supply; while over 55 per cent of the housing fund has bathrooms.

In rural population centres, the level of provision of the housing fund with these types of amenities is much lower: gas – about 40 per cent, water supply – less than a fifth of the urban level, sewage system – virtually only a fourteenth of the corresponding level. From 2 to 4 per cent of the housing fund is supplied with central heating and bathrooms, while the hot water supply level is extremely low in rural areas – only about 0.5 per cent.

The housing fund in Bishkek is better equipped with amenities than other population centres. For example, the provision of the housing fund with a water supply, sewage system and central heating averages 90 per cent, with gas – 80 per cent, while hot water provision has dropped somewhat in recent years and now stands at 65 per cent.

In the regions, the highest level of provision with gas is found in the Osh Region, where 80 per cent of the housing fund has a gas supply, followed by the Batken Region, though, in recent years, there has been a tendency for a fall in this figure, in the Issyk-Kul and Talassk Regions – 30-35 per cent, and in the Narynsk Region, the level of gas provision is very low, only about 4 per cent.

In the Talassk and Chuya Regions, the level of provision with a water supply is higher than in other regions, except for the Chuya Region, where, over the last three years, an increase has been observed and, at the end of 2003, 55 per cent of the housing fund had running water. A third of the housing fund is provided with a water supply in the Issyk-Kul Region, 15-20 per cent – in the Djalal-Abad and Osh Regions, while the lowest level of provision with this amenity is found in the Narynsk Region. The housing fund provided with a sewage system, central heating and a hot water supply is found mainly in urban areas in the regions. In the Issyk-Kul and Chuya Regions, about a third of the housing fund has a sewage system and the respective figures for the Batken and Djalal- Abad Regions are 11-13 per cent and only 5-6 per cent of the housing fund enjoys this amenity in the Narynsk and Talassk Regions. The housing fund in the Talassk Region, at 34 per cent, is better supplied with central heating than that of other regions; the figures for the Chuya and Issyk-Kul Regions are 2- per cent, the Osh Region – 14 per cent and the Batken Region – 9 per cent. The level of provision of the housing fund with a hot water supply is very low in all regions and there is no hot water supply at all in the Narynsk and Talassk regions.

Education

Since the Republic acquired independence, fundamental changes have been introduced into the economic, political and socio-cultural spheres, entailing corresponding changes in the educational status of the population. The First National Population Census, carried out in 1999, made it possible to fully appraise these changes. Its results confirmed that the Republic’s population, irrespective of sex, enjoys a high educational level. At the beginning of the 1990s, for instance, literacy among the population stood at 97 per cent and by 1999 it had reached almost 99 per cent. Among the population aged 15 years or more, 10.5 per cent had a higher education, 10.8 per cent – a secondary specialised, 50 per cent – a completed secondary general education and 18.3 per cent – a basic general education (eight-nine years). Only 6.3 per cent had only a primary education, while about 1.3 per cent of the adult population were illiterate. Comparing with the data of the 1989 census, there had been an insignificant rise in the number of people with a higher education – from 9.4 per cent to 10.5 per cent. There has also been a rise in the share of the population with a secondary general education – from 39.1 per cent to 50 per cent and a fall in the share of those with a secondary specialised education – from 15.7 per cent to 10.8 per cent.

No dramatic regional differences were observed in the levels of education, with the exception of the city of Bishkek, which, in spite of the broad network of higher educational institutions in all the regions, remains a centre of education, science and culture (Table 1). The share of people with a higher education in the capital is double the average for the Republic – 21.8 per cent, and those with a secondary specialised education constitute 13.3 per cent of the population. This fact is easily explained by the broad opportunities provided there, both for receiving an education and for finding work. The proportion of people with a higher education is somewhat higher in the Issyk-Kul Region than in other regions – 10.8 per cent. Here, 11.5 per cent of the adult population had a secondary specialised education, which figure is also higher than the average for the Republic as a whole. The percentage of people with a secondary specialised education is high in the Chuya Region, too – 12.3 per cent. The lowest educational level was observed in the Batken Region, where only 5.4 per cent of the adult population had a higher education and 7.7 per cent – a secondary specialised one.

Table 4: Numbers of the permanently resident population aged 15 years or more by level of education and sex

(according to census data)

Total Including with an education, in per cent population aged 15 years incomplete secondary secondary basic primary higher or more, higher specialised general general general people

Kyrgyz Republic 1989 2661891 9.4 1.6 15.7 39.1 18.4 9.1 1999 3090680 10.5 1.5 10.8 50.0 18.3 6.3 Batken Region 1989 178794 5.5 0.5 12.8 47.3 17.2 9.4 1999 225972 5.4 0.9 7.7 57.7 17.9 7.0 Djalal-Abad Region 1989 429093 6.0 0.7 15.5 43.2 17.9 8.6 1999 511401 6.3 1.1 9.3 55.2 18.6 5.8 Issyk-Kul Region 1989 251895 9.6 1.3 17.0 36.0 20.7 9.7 1999 263686 10.8 0.8 11.5 48.3 18.6 7.6 Narynsk Region 1989 138916 8.6 0.9 12.9 42.6 21.2 7.0 1999 149351 8.4 0.6 10.4 51.5 19.3 7.2 Osh Region 1989 541784 7.5 1.4 14.5 45.0 16.5 8.0 1999 692956 7.6 1.2 9.5 55.7 17.7 5.5 Talassk Region 1989 111244 7.7 1.0 14.1 37.6 20.5 10.5 1999 121413 8.3 1.1 10.2 48.3 20.3 8.5 Chuya Region 1989 540666 7.0 1.2 16.2 33.2 22.0 12.6 1999 535985 8.8 0.9 12.3 41.2 24.7 9.1 Gorkenesh Bishkek 1989 469499 19.7 4.2 18.4 33.0 14.8 6.4 1999 589916 21.8 3.8 13.3 44.6 12.4 3.5

The level of access to a secondary school education was quite high, irrespective of sex, which indicates that achievements in the sphere of compulsory education have been maintained. According to the 1999 population census, the coverage ratio of the compulsory education system for all regions averaged 97 per cent 1. At the same time, there was a marked decrease in the coverage at school-entry age – 7 years and school-leaving age – 14 (15) years. The former can be explained by the fact that parents often send their children to school later, considering the difficult financial situation in the family and lack of a system for providing hot food at school and extended–day groups. Some parents believe that, at the age of 7, a child is not yet ready to go to school. At the age of 14-15 years, some adolescents go to study in Professional Training Colleges in order to acquire a trade, while others leave school in order to work in a family enterprise or become self-employed.

According to the census data, students made up 66 per cent of the total population between the ages of 6 and 24 years, 57.4 per cent studying in general education schools, 0.9 per cent – in Professional Training Colleges, 1.1 per cent – in secondary specialised educational institutions and 6.3 per cent – in higher educational institutions.

Restricted budget financing has resulted in a mass curtailment of preschool institutions. At the end of the 1990s, according to the census data, a drop was observed in the coverage by preschool education in most of the regions in the Republic. The reasons for this are the closure of preschool institutions, a drop in family incomes and a rise in direct education costs, which affect, above all, children from poor families and families living in rural areas. Only 49 thousand children attended preschool institutions, which constitutes 6.2 per cent of the

1 The coverage ratio of compulsory education means the proportion of children covered by an incomplete secondary education (1-9 grades) as a percentage of those of the corresponding age group, defined as the ratio of the number of pupils in the 1-9 grades in full-time, general educational schools to the numbers of the permanently resident population of the corresponding age group (7-15 years), multiplied by 100 per cent. number of children between birth and the age of 6 years, while the proportion in rural areas was, on average, only half this.

Over the past few years, the drop in the number of preschool institutions has come to a halt and a tendency has been observed towards a rise in the number of children attending them. There are currently 417 preschool educational institutions in operation (in 1999 there were 420), attended by about 48 thousand children (in 1999, the figure was 45 thousand), or 10 per cent of children of the corresponding age group. Moreover, the coverage of children with preschool institutions in urban areas was higher than in rural ones (4 per cent) and amounted to 24 per cent. In 2003, the lowest level of this indicator was observed in the Batken and Narynsk Regions (5.4 per cent) and the highest (31.3 per cent) in the city of Bishkek.

Over the period since 1999, the majority of regions in the Republic have seen a cut in the total number of children studying in general educational schools, owing to the low birth rate in the early 1990s, and a rise in the number of students in secondary specialised and higher educational institutions. One of the main reasons for the drop in the number of children attending primary school in recent years has been the fall in the number of children accepted into primary and preparatory classes, which is a result of the drop in the birth rate at the beginning of the 1990s.

In comparison with 1999, there has been a 5 per cent increase in the compulsory education coverage (1-9 grades) and, at the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year, the figure stood at 95 per cent for the Republic as a whole, irrespective of sex. In all regions of the Republic, quite a high percentage of educational coverage is observed, irrespective of sex, for incomplete secondary schooling (between the ages of 7 and 15). The highest coverage level is found in Osh – 107 per cent, the Chuya Region – 101 per cent, the Narynsk Region – 97 per cent, and the Issyk-Kul and Talassk Regions – 96 per cent.

There are certain differences in the level of educational coverage of children by the age group. The dynamics of indicators of children starting school (1-4 grades) and of children attending grades 5 to 9 testify that, during these years, the overall indicators were quite high, while gender equality was maintained among the pupils (Table 2). It should be noted that the data for 2000 and 2001 are not fully comparable with those for previous and subsequent years, owing to a mixing of the pupil contingent by the class, as a result of the transfer to 11-year schooling. At the same time, educational coverage of children beyond the scope of compulsory education is tending to fall in all regions of the Republic, especially among boys. This is connected with an increase in the numbers of those compelled, by economic considerations, to acquire a trade at an earlier age. Some young people transfer to studying at a Professional Training College, specialised secondary educational institution or short-term courses, preparing them for entry onto the labour market as soon as possible.

Table 5: Educational coverage ratio by primary, incomplete secondary

and secondary schooling

(percentage of the corresponding age group)

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Educational coverage ratio in 1-11 grades, total 87.3 88.5 87.1 90.6 90.0 boys 86.4 88.6 87.0 90.1 89.4 girls 88.1 88.4 87.2 91.0 90.6 including in: 1-4 grades, total 1 97.7 97.2 96.6 96.8 98.6 boys 98.6 98.6 97.9 97.8 99.3 girls 96.8 95.8 95.3 95.8 98.0

5-9 grades, total 2 82.8 94.9 93.6 92.8 91.9 boys 82.0 95.1 93.5 92.6 91.7 girls 83.7 94.6 93.7 93.0 92.1

10-11 grades, total 3 75.6 47.0 48.9 72.0 69.1 boys 70.5 43.4 45.6 68.0 65.1 girls 80.8 50.6 52.3 76.1 73.1

1 (1-4 grades) - 7-10 years. 2 (5-9 grades) - 11-15 years. 3 (10-11 grades) - 16-17 years.

Crisis phenomena in the economy have reflected on the accessibility of education for the poor, which has become one of the most pressing problems for social development in recent years. In the Republic there are still some children who do not attend school. At the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year, for instance, according to statistic report data, about 1.3 thousand children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 17 years failed to attend school (in the 1999/2000 academic year they numbered 3.8 thousand). In addition, 1967 children are not due to receive an education on the basis of medical and pedagogical commission reports: these include 69.4 per cent who are children with mental and physical developmental disorders, 17.5 per cent who do not study owing to other illnesses, 9.6 per cent deaf and dumb children and 3.5 per cent blind children. In rural areas, there were 1617 such children (82 per cent of the total number not due for education).

It should be noted that 18 per cent of all those not attending an educational institution were 15 year-old adolescents, 15 per cent – 14 year-olds and 13 per cent – 16 year-olds, living mainly in rural areas (75 per cent of the total numbers of 14-16-year-olds not studying). Moreover, 24 per cent of the 14-16-year-olds not studying live in the Chuya Region, 16 per cent in the Issyk-Kul, 16 per cent in the Djalal-Abad, and 9 per cent in the Narynsk Region.

The main reasons that children do not attend school are economic difficulties in the family, the rising cost of keeping a child in school, the falling prestige of education among a certain part of the adult population, a rise in social orphanhood, a lack of interest in studying among some adolescents, closure of boarding schools, and lack of means of transport for children to get to school from remote localities.

From 1995 to 2001, there was an active increase in the number of private schools, which extended the sphere of general education services for the population and now compete with state schools to a certain extent. At the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year, private schools numbered 25, which was fewer than during the 1999/2000 academic year (29), while the numbers of children attending them had grown somewhat to reach 4.5 thousand (against 2.5 thousand in the 1999/2000 academic year). About a third (32 per cent) of private schools are in the city of Bishkek, 24 per cent in the Chuya Region and 16 per cent in Osh. Private educational institutions are closing down because the current financing principles put them beyond the reach of most families. In the 1999/2000 academic year, for instance, Bishkek had 20 such schools, but in the 2003/2004 academic year, there were only 8 left. Currently, of the 25 private schools, 7 provide a basic education and 18 a secondary schooling.

Schools continue to work on several shifts, with two-shift schools coming to predominate. The share of students studying on second and third shifts rose from 37 per cent in the 1999/2000 academic year to 44 per cent in the 2003/2004 academic year and reached 500 thousand children. The proportion of students studying on the first shift dropped from 63 per cent in the 1999/2000 academic year to 56 per cent in the 2003/2004 academic year and numbered 647 thousand. In the Chuya Region, the proportion of such students was 72 per cent, in the Batken – 63 per cent, in the Djalal-Abad and Talassk Regions – almost 60 per cent each, in the Osh Region – 56 per cent, in Osh itself – 54 per cent and in the city of Bishkek – 45 per cent. In the Issyk-Kul Region, only 39 per cent of children attend the first shift, which is the lowest level in the Republic.

The average class size in public schools remains large. Thus, in 1994 it was 23 children, in 1999 – 25 and again 25 at the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year. Moreover, these indicators differ in rural (23 students) and urban (28 students) areas. In the countryside, there are schools with extremely small classes. In a number of districts in the Narynsk, Osh, Djalal-Abad and Issyk-Kul Regions, for instance, there are classes with only 8-12 children. At the same time, in the majority of city schools, there are at least 30 children to a class.

In recent years, the system of basic public education has started to experience a personnel shortage, which is one reason for the rise in the “teacher-pupil” ratio in formal education. Thus, in 1991, there were 12 pupils per teacher in general education day schools, in 1999– 15 and at the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year – also 15.

This ratio differs, moreover, in different regions and in schools of varying types of ownership. At the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year, for instance, there were 18 pupils per teacher in schools in the cities of Bishkek and Osh, 17 in the Chuya Region, 16 in the Djalal- Abad, 15 in the Batken, 13 in the Issyk-Kul Region, 12 in the Narynsk, and 7 in the Osh and Talassk Regions. There is also a difference in the “teacher-pupil” ratio between urban areas (18) and rural ones (14). The ratio is much lower in private schools – 8 pupils per teacher.

Culture

In 2003, there were 1041 libraries in the Republic (in 1999 – 1031). The largest numbers of libraries are found in the Chuya (223) and Djalal-Abad (191) Regions. The numbers of library users are rising by the year, reaching 1022.5 thousand in 2003, which is 7.4 per cent more than in 1999. Out of the total number of library users, 43.6 per cent are women. The largest numbers of library users are registered in the city of Bishkek (199 thousand) and the Djalal-Abad Region (178.3 thousand). The Republic’s library fund remained at the 1999 level for 5 years and numbered about 20 million volumes, including over 8 million in rural areas. The biggest fund is held by the libraries of Bishkek (7.1 million). The number of cinema projectors in the Republic has fallen since 1999 by 45 units and now stands at 258, 219 of which are in rural areas. The largest numbers of projectors are found in the Djalal-Abad (92) and Issyk-Kul (70) Regions. The cinema audience increased in 2003 to reach the 1999 level (316.7 thousand people a year). The biggest cinema audiences are registered in Bishkek and the Djalal-Abad Region.

Between 1999 and 2003, there were 15 professional theatres functioning in the Republic: 8 in Bishkek, 3 in the Osh Region, 2 in the Narynsk Region, and one each in the Djalal-Abad and Issyk-Kul Regions. Of these theatres, 11 are drama and musical comedy theatres, 3 youth and puppet theatres. The theatre groups presented 1269 performances (in 1999 there were 2370). The theatre audiences numbered over 208 thousand (in 1999 – about 265 thousand).

Over the past five years, 5 new museums have opened in the Republic and there are now a total of 44. Of these, 23 are museums of local history and 13 memorial museums. In 2003, the museums had about 717 thousand visitors (in 1999 they numbered 470.4 thousand). The largest number of visitors was recorded in Bishkek (407.8 thousand) and in the Talassk Region (111.5 thousand). In 2003, the museum collections included 180.7 thousand basic units. The largest numbers of exhibits belong to the museums of Bishkek (88.5 thousand), Osh (31.2 thousand) and the Issyk-Kul Region (19.3 thousand).

The number of concerts and the size of their audiences are growing. In 2003, 390 philharmonic and variety concerts were given to a total audience of over 222 thousand people (in 1999, 377 and 168 thousand, respectively). In Bishkek, over 117 thousand people attended concerts, in the Batken Region – 72.5 thousand and in the city of Osh – 26.5 thousand people.

Since 1999, children’s music schools have numbered a steady 71, 14 of them in the Djalal- Abad Region, 12 in Osh and 10 in the Issyk-Kul Region.

Crime

The beginning of the socio-economic transformations in the Republic was accompanied by a rise in crime, which peaked in 1992, when the number of registered crimes reached 43.9 thousand (50 per cent higher than in 1990). There was a sharp increase in the number of registered crimes in Bishkek (15.4 thousand), in the Chuya (11.4 thousand) and Batken (3.6 thousand) regions. Property-related crimes grew fastest and constituted about half of all the crimes committed. Thus, over the period from 1990 to 1993 inclusively, embezzlements of state and public property increased 2.1-fold and numbered 8.7 thousand, of personal property – 1.7-fold (19.1 thousand) and robbery and robbery with violence – 1.6-fold (2.4 thousand). From 1993 onwards, the total number of registered crimes began gradually to fall but remains quite high to this day: 35.6 thousand in 2003, compared to 29.7 thousand in 1990. Correspondingly, 10.7 thousand in 2003 against 8.7 thousand in 1990 in Bishkek, 3.6 thousand and 2.1 thousand in the Djalal-Abad Region, 3.8 thousand and 2.5 thousand in the Issyk-Kul and 1.1 thousand and 0.8 thousand crimes, respectively, in the Narynsk Region. The number of premeditated murders and attempted murders has fallen by 30.3 per cent since 1990 (23.4 per cent since 1993) and of deliberate grievous bodily harm by 53.5 per cent (48.8 per cent since 1993). By region, the number of premeditated murders and attempted murders has fallen, since 1993, by 38.2 per cent in the Chuya Region, 33.3 per cent in the Osh Region, 40.9 per cent in the Issyk- Kul Region and 5.6 per cent in Bishkek; of deliberate grievous bodily harm by 49.6 per cent in Bishkek and 41.8 per cent in the Chuya Region. In Bishkek, registered cases of robbery and robbery with violence fell over the period from 1992-1993 to 2003, inclusively, by 39.3 per cent and numbered 905.

At the same time, drug abuse and unlawful drug-trafficking has assumed a substantial scale in recent years.

In 2003, 3106 drug-related crimes were registered, which is 2.9 times more than in 1990; 3.5 tonnes of narcotics and psychotropic substances were confiscated, including 104.6 kg of heroin and 45.7 kg of opium. The biggest crime increase in 2003 was recorded in Bishkek (780 cases against 576 in 1993), the Chuya (756 and 481) and Issyk-Kul (488 against 420) Regions.

Among the registered crimes against public safety, the number of cases of hooliganism is steadily rising. Thus, in 2003, 3074 cases were registered, which is 50 per cent more than in 1990 (in 1993 – 4193, in 1999 – 1828 cases). In the Osh Region, in 2003, 721 cases of hooliganism were recorded (in 1993 – 447, in 1999 – 249), in the Djalal-Abad Region – 612 (in 1993 – 200, in 1999 – 413), in Bishkek – 544 (in 1993 – 2536, in 1999 – 394) and in the Chuya Region – 453 cases (in 1993 – 462, in 1999 – 307).

The legal framework for the fight against crime is being formed, as a result of which the most dangerous forms of criminal behaviour are prosecuted by law (corruption, organised crime, laundering crime proceeds and so on). During 2003, 3413 economic crimes and crimes by officials were recorded (in 1992 – 3427 cases), with the established sum of material damage amounting to 270.3 million soms.

Although most crimes are committed by men over the age of 25, an average of 6-7 per cent of all criminals are minors and 10-12 per cent are women, and this structure has remained stable for a number of years now.