An independent expert Ekaterina Kasymova (Kyrgyzstan) analyzes the current problems of preschool education and its connection with the successful functioning of the government in an article, written specifically for CABAR.asia.
Preschool education is the first and most important stage of the education system, covering the period from birth to seven years. It is during this period that basic personality traits are laid, such as thinking, attention, memory, imagination, speech, the most important neural connections are formed, which allow the child to develop at subsequent stages of learning. How successful further development will be directly depends on the knowledge and skills acquired in the preschool period. Many governments have recognized the importance of preschool education by making it nearly universal for children aged 3 years and older.
The preschool education covers only 25.4% of children in Kyrgyzstan. Preschool education is considered to be optional. The purpose of the article is to analyze the current condition of preschool education and the relationship of its successful functioning with the development of the state, in particular with sustainable economic development.
Preschool childhood is a unique period
“Pre-primary schooling is our children’s educational foundation – every stage of education that follows relies on its success,” says Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF. If children are denied such an opportunity, then the percentage of children remaining in the second year and those who have dropped out of school increases. Children who have not completed the preschool education course are notoriously less successful in their studies than their prepared peers. Such disappointing findings are presented in the first ever UNICEF global report on early childhood education[1].
According to American researchers J. Shonkoff, D. Philips, the development of a child’s thinking and memory depends on the formation of neural connections (synapses). The arrival of new information serves as an impetus for their emergence and strengthening. If this does not happen, then the synapses are destroyed. In their research “From Neurons to Neighborhoods. The Science of Early Childhood Development”, they came to conclusion that the most intensive period of child’s brain development falls on the period from birth to three years, while the lack of development in the first years of a child’s life leads to a low development of intelligence in general[2]. A UNICEF report on early childhood education provides evidence that children who have completed preschool are more than twice likely to achieve basic literacy and numeracy skills than children who have not received preschool education[3].
At the moment, 50% of preschool age children do not receive preschool education in the world, in digital terms, we are talking about 175 million children. In poor countries, one in five children does not have access to early childhood education. Kyrgyzstan ranks 6th in the ranking of countries with the lowest percentage of children who acquired literacy and numeracy skills through participation in early childhood education programs.[4]
The problem of enrollment in preschool education
At the beginning of 2021, 2 million 512 thousand children under the age of 18 lived in Kyrgyzstan, and compared to last 2020, their number increased by almost 56 thousand, or 2.3%. Of the total number of children, 44% are children of preschool age (1 million 118 thousand people). For 2020, 196 thousand 123 children were enrolled in preschool organizations.
Preschool education in the Kyrgyz Republic is implemented in a nursery for children from 6 months to 3 years old, and in kindergartens for children from 3 to 7 years old. In accordance with the Education Law, preschool education is not compulsory[5].
According to the National Statistical Committee for 2019, the coverage of children with preschool education in the republic was 25.4%. At the same time, there is a significant difference between urban and rural areas: in cities, 34.5% of children attend kindergartens, and 20.6% in rural settlements[6]. Despite the fact that the coverage of preschool education in four years increased by 5.5%[7], the overall enrollment ratio remains rather low. For comparison, in neighboring Kazakhstan, the gross coverage of preschool education was 78.3%, while the percentage of children attending preschool in rural areas is 87%, and in urban areas 72.5%[8]. In Russia, according to the head of the Ministry of Education Sergei Kravtsov, the number of children attending kindergartens and nurseries is 96% under the age of three years and 99% at the age of three to seven years. By 2024, it is planned to ensure 100% coverage of preschool education[9].
This interest on the part of states in the preschool education of children has good reasons, including economic ones: by investing in preschool education, countries are investing not only in human capital, but also in the country’s future economic growth. Economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman, together with the leading expert on early development, Jack Shonkoff, published in 2006 a graph that is now known as the “Heckman curve”[10]. This graph illustrates Heckman’s central concept: investing in early development is far more effective than all further education programs.
This famous study became the staging ground for a revolution in the consciousness of mankind: from that moment on, preschool education began to be seen as an investment, and not an expenditure item of the budget. Heckman’s theory is confirmed in numerous studies by American and British scientists on the level of return on investment in preschool education programs. In particular, the HighScope Perry preschool education program, which was conducted in the United States in the 1960s for children from low-income families, showed a high economic return: every dollar invested returned sixteen times in 40 years[11].
It should be noted that in Kyrgyzstan the level of enrollment of children in preschool institutions was traditionally low, even in Soviet times, the gross enrollment rate did not exceed 33.9%[12]. This figure fell sharply after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing political, economic, and social transformations. The state was forced to close 74% of preschool institutions due to the impossibility of their further funding. The shortage of preschool institutions is one of the main reasons for the low enrollment rate in preschool education.
Lack of kindergartens and poverty
The buildings of state kindergartens were partially privatized, converted into buildings of tax services, social funds, courts, and so on. By 2000, out of 1,696 state kindergartens, only 400 were functioning. In 2012, on behalf of Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov, an interdepartmental commission was created to conduct an inventory of kindergarten buildings in Kyrgyzstan for their intended purpose. Based on the results of the commission’s work, Deputy Minister of Education Gulzhigit Soronkulov, who was also a member of the commission, published[13] the following data in his report:
Since that moment, the state has been taking measures to return the illegally sold and privatized buildings. According to the Ministry of Education, 209 buildings have been returned since 2013, 177 of them have already started operating as kindergartens. At the same time, the number of private kindergartens is growing. The state, realizing the importance of supporting private preschool organizations, has been providing them with tax incentives since 2015, and also simplifies the procedure for obtaining a license for educational activities.
In general, since the mid-2000s, there has been a stable growth in the number of preschool organizations and by 2020 their number reaches 1431, including 217 private ones. Despite these positive dynamics, the issue of the lack of institutions for preschool children is still acute in Kyrgyzstan. According to Nurizada Kasymova, a leading specialist in preschool, school and out-of-school education of the Ministry of Education and Science, Kyrgyzstan lacks more than 1,800 kindergartens[14].
According to the National Statistical Committee, expenditures on education in Kyrgyzstan amounted to 22.5% of the total state budget, which is equivalent to 7% of GDP. At the same time, the largest amount of funding falls on secondary education (schools), as for preschool educational organizations, in 2019 15% of the total expenditures on education were allocated from the state budget for their maintenance. Despite the fact that Kyrgyzstan is among the countries in the world with the largest share of public spending on education, preschool education remains inaccessible to more than 70% of children under the age of 7.
Poverty is the second main reason for low enrollment in preschool institutions. In Soviet times, preschool education was provided free of charge, and in terms of funding, it was built according to the Scandinavian model, i.e., the state provided and subsidized half-day care for children aged 0 to 6 years. At the moment, the state cannot provide preschool education and childcare services free of charge. Parents must provide their children with stationery themselves and must pay an extra charge for the child on a monthly basis. According to the interviewed parents living in the city of Bishkek and having a city registration, the surcharge ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 KGS (approximately from 12 USD to 23 USD) per month. In this case, the money is deposited in cash into a fund created at a preschool institution. For instance, the cost of visiting one of the city’s kindergartens is 2000 KGS, of which 1500 KGS is a monthly contribution for the needs of the kindergarten, 200 KGS is an additional payment to the teacher on a monthly basis and 1000 KGS is a simultaneous contribution for the purchase of stationery.
According to a study by UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)[15] in the Kyrgyz Republic, due to poverty and the need to pay fees for preschool education, many parents are unable to take their children to kindergartens and early childhood development centers. Moreover, in order to reduce the cost of maintaining a child, they send them to school at the age of six, despite the fact that children at the age of six are often not ready, either intellectually or physically, to master the school curriculum. This unpreparedness further leads to poor academic performance and a high risk of dropping out of the educational process.
In addition, poverty is a cause of chronic malnutrition and, as a consequence, underdeveloped children. According to UNICEF[16], 22% of infant deaths under five years of age are due to malnutrition. Malnutrition also leads to developmental delays in children. In Kyrgyzstan, 14% of children under five years old are short, in three regions this figure reaches 20%[17]. A child’s diet determines not only his physical health, but also the development of cognitive skills and, thus, determines the success of further education.
The percentage of families in Kyrgyzstan who do not have sufficient funds to ensure their children attend a public preschool is quite high. According to the National Statistical Committee, in 2020 every fourth resident of Kyrgyzstan lived in poverty. In 2020, 1 million 678 thousand people lived below the poverty line, of which 73.7% were residents of rural settlements[18]. High unemployment in rural areas has led to large-scale migration of poor families to large cities, in particular to Bishkek and Osh. Internal migration is another reason for the low enrollment in preschool education.
Internal migration and child labor
As a result of internal migration, the population of Bishkek has doubled since 1989[19] and according to official data at the beginning of 2021 it was 1 million 74 thousand 100 people[20]. According to the data given in the Ombudsman’s report: 47 new residential areas, the so-called “newbuild (novostroyka)” with a total population of 23 thousand 258 people, were formed around the capital, which is 27.9% of the capital’s population. In addition, the report refers to such problems of residential areas as the lack of basic infrastructure, schools and kindergartens, medical institutions. Most residents do not have documents proving their identity, and this, first of all, concerns children. Birth certificates are absent in 98% of children under 16 years of age[21], the parents of these children do not have registration, which entails the problem of children not being enrolled in educational institutions.
Due to the fact that parents living in “newbuilds”, for the above reasons, cannot provide preschool education for their children, the government of the Kyrgyz Republic introduced a free preschool education program (240-hour and 100-hour programs). According to a USAID study, of the total number of children living in these housing estates, only a small fraction was included in free state school preparation programs. The reasons for refusing to participate are lack of awareness, lack of confidence in the fact that programs are implemented free of charge[22] and the problem of child labor, which affects children from the age of 5. According to a study by the National Statistical Committee within the framework of the global MICS (multi-indicator cluster survey) program, in 2018, 27% of children in Kyrgyzstan aged 5 to 17 were forced to work for various reasons. In rural areas, children are employed in agricultural work; in urban areas, children are employed in various jobs in the markets. In addition, most children do family work of a household nature, often older children of preschool age perform the function of looking after younger children. It also negatively affects the attendance of preschool educational institutions.
Lack of qualified teachers
According to the latest statistics from the NSC, by the end of 2019, more than 13 thousand teachers worked in preschool organizations of the Kyrgyz Republic, including managers, methodologists, educators, music directors, defectologists, speech therapists and other teaching positions. Of these, 66% had a university education, more than 27% – specialized secondary education, about 7% – general secondary education[23]. Thus, most of the teaching staff (93%) is highly qualified, the vast majority of employees of preschool organizations are women.
A typical educator in the Kyrgyz Republic is an experienced worker of a fairly mature (pre-retirement) age who has linked his/her whole life with preschool education and received a diploma back in Soviet times. The level of their qualifications is quite high, but despite the level of qualifications, a kindergarten teacher in Kyrgyzstan is a relatively low-paid profession.
There is a serious shortage of qualified preschool teachers. According to official data, on average in the republic in 2019, there were 25 children per teacher, 41 children in Osh, 31 children in Chui oblast, and 30 children in Bishkek[24]. However, according to independent media, this indicator is greatly underestimated and can reach up to 90 pupils in a group[25]. Such unfavorable working conditions, as well as low salaries, lead to a constant turnover of teaching and non-teaching staff. This is especially true for junior teaching staff – nannies and teacher assistants. Childcare assistants (nannies) tend to have a lower level of education and lower wages.
In rural areas, these problems are added to obsolete premises, lack of water supply or sewerage, lack of heating. Young people are not attracted by the prospect of working in preschool education. Even among the higher-paid educators of private kindergartens, there are few young specialists. It is also worth noting that in state kindergartens, young educators earn significantly less than their older colleagues, which does not add to the attractiveness of the educator profession in the eyes of graduates of pedagogical departments. At the moment, the change of personnel in preschool education is not ensured, and the attraction of young and qualified specialists is becoming more and more difficult.
Private kindergartens can provide higher wages and attract more professional teaching staff; lower loads are also an indisputable advantage of working in a private kindergarten – the number of children in a group does not exceed 20 pupils. However, managers of private kindergartens also face problems with staffing. Interviews with private kindergarten owners have shown that some private kindergartens are not fully staffed. The most acute problem is the lack of such narrow specialists as the musical director of a preschool educational institution, a choreographer, a speech therapist, and a defectologists.
Training of teachers of preschool education at the university level is offered by the Kyrgyz State University. According to the heads of some preschool organizations, the curriculum is distinguished by a high level of theorization and an insufficient amount of practice, which subsequently affects the quality of the graduated personnel. Due to the low demand for this specialty, the choice of alternative educational options is limited. Almost all teachers without higher education are graduates of secondary vocational schools. The school curriculum is characterized by a more practical approach compared to universities and provides more opportunities for practical training in educational institutions.
As for refresher courses for already working educators and teachers, the only monopoly on organizing and conducting courses is the state represented by the Kyrgyz Academy of Education (KAE). Unfortunately, the quality of these courses leaves much to be desired, primarily due to the prevalence of theoretical material over practical. Moreover, the materials and methods used by KAE do not correspond to current views on early care and early childhood education.
Conclusion
Preschool education appeared relatively recently, about 260 years ago. The first kindergarten for children under 6 years old was founded in France in Strasbourg by Pastor Jean-Frédéric Auberlin in the 18th century. The Kyrgyz system of preschool education is just over 100 years old. The first kindergarten was opened in 1918 in Przhevalsk (now Karakol). From that moment until the early 1990s, the number of preschool institutions increased steadily. Despite its relative “youngness”, the preschool level of education has managed to prove its necessity for the development of human capital.
Recent studies, supported by a broad evidence base, suggest the following global trends in preschool education:
- preschool childhood is recognized as the most important period in the development of children, as it lays down general psychological, physiological, and cognitive skills that serve as the foundation for further education.
- the first years of a person’s life are not only the most important for their development, but also the most profitable for investments.
- awareness of the importance of preschool education has led to its mandatory in the developed countries of the world. Non-compulsory preschool education goes down in history. In the Central Asian region, only Kazakhstan has introduced compulsory preschool education for one year.
- at present, the approach to preschool education has changed significantly, both on the part of parents and on the part of the state. The preschool level is no longer viewed only in terms of childcare. It is the educational and socializing functions of the kindergarten that come to the fore. All over the world, preschool education is already perceived as a priority level of education, and not as a place of temporary residence for children of working parents.
In the segment of preschool education in Kyrgyzstan, there are both positive and negative trends. Positive changes are the result of the state’s attention to the problems in this area:
- growth in the number of preschool institutions since the early 2000s, when their number reached lowest ever marker. Such results were largely achieved thanks to the targeted use of the buildings of preschool educational organizations.
- development of preschool institutions with private ownership. This was largely due to tax incentives provided to private kindergartens in 2015, as well as simplification of the licensing procedure.
- development of a range of alternative educational services in the field of preschool education: more than 100 community kindergartens have been opened throughout the country since 2004, which appeared with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and were further developed with the support of UNICEF, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and other partners, since 2015, a 240-hour program for preparing children for school has been implemented throughout the country and the Nariste program, which provides for 480 hours of education, in December 2021, it was announced the opening of 500 kindergartens with a short-term (three-hour) stay of children throughout republic.
- the number of first graders who have completed preschool training is growing. In the 2020-2021 academic year, about 87% of students (or 131 thousand children) of the number of children who entered the first grade received preschool training, while in the 2016-2017 academic year – 76%. The majority of children (more than 51%) received preschool training in a 240-hour program and about 17% in a 480-hour program.[26]
Among the unsolved problems:
- shortage of kindergartens – about 2,000 children’s educational institutions are lacking across the republic, Bishkek alone needs 200 new kindergartens.
- a low level of material and technical equipment of the educational process (in some regions, kindergarten buildings require major repairs, do not have water supply and sewerage systems).
- low coverage of preschool education – in Kyrgyzstan, out of more than 1 million preschool children, 24% attend kindergarten. According to the UNESCO classification, Kyrgyzstan is classified as a country with extremely low preschool education coverage of less than 30%[27]. Low enrollment in preschool education leads to low school performance. The authoritative PISA study[28], in which Kyrgyzstan participated in 2006 and 2009, occupying the last lines of the rating, in its report on the results of Kyrgyzstan’s participation, cites low enrollment in preschool education as one of the reasons for student failure[29].
- the problem of staffing kindergartens: the educator remains a low-paid profession, as a result, among educators there are prevailing people who find it difficult to change their profession due to their age, the bulk of educators are women 45-60 years old.
- an outdated approach to preschool education, when staying in kindergarten is viewed only from the point of view of caring for and looking after children, and not as the first and most important stage of education.
The solutions can be conditionally divided into those that require huge financial investments and those that depend on one political will. The need to construct new buildings and overhaul old ones has been said more than once at various sites. It is more interesting to consider the second group of possibilities:
- develop public private partnerships. Obviously, for economic reasons, Kyrgyzstan will not be able to take full financial responsibility for the implementation of universal, compulsory and quality preschool education. In countries with similar problems, a public private partnership (PPP) mechanism is used. The main principle of PPP in preschool education is the reimbursement by the state of private kindergartens of their investments on the basis of per capita financing. Parents may issue government vouchers or refund parental fees. PPP implies a number of conditions: in Hong Kong, a voucher can be issued only to those kindergartens where certified teachers work, a preschool institution must be officially registered and participate in the monitoring of government agencies. In neighboring Kazakhstan, for the development of PPP, the licensing procedure for preschool education has been abolished, and a state order is allocated for private preschool institutions.
- creation of favorable conditions for the development and growth of preschool educational organizations with a private form of ownership. Consider removing licensing for kindergartens that provide only care and childcare services for children aged 0 to 5 years without the right to provide preschool education for children aged 6 to 7 years. This will allow working parents to solve the problem of placing a child in a kindergarten.
- make education in a preschool institution at the preparatory stage for school (6-7 years old) compulsory at the legislative level. In the educational system of the Kyrgyz Republic, preschool and secondary general education are not compulsory. UNICEF strongly recommends that national governments make at least 1 year of quality early childhood education universal by making it a regular part of education for every child, especially for marginalized children.
- conduct educational work on the importance of the preschool level of education. At the moment, there is practically no educational work on the part of the state, parents consider the preschool level of education optional. Argument: I went to school too and couldn’t read. Schools are required to accept children who have reached the age of 7 without testing. Often, children 6-7 years old are not just taught to read and write, they do not have basic ideas about the world around them (time of day, seasons, days of the week, names of months, they cannot determine the time by the clock, etc.)
- it is necessary to develop effective strategies for attracting young, qualified personnel to preschool pedagogy. Educational workers play a key role in ensuring the quality of preschool education, as well as other levels of education. There is a well-known formula of one of the reformers of the educational system in Great Britain, Michael Barber: “The quality of the education system cannot be higher than the quality of the teachers working in it.” First of all, it correlates with the educational level of preschool workers. In OECD countries, only a teacher with a higher education can become an educator. After receiving a higher education there is a program of introduction to the specialty, without the development of which the teacher does not receive admission to work. The high level of education of a teacher is supported by a high salary. The possible salary increase during career is up to 60%. In Kyrgyzstan, the existing practices of financial incentives for teachers only exacerbate the problem of staffing, since a young teacher is forced to work at 2 positions (double duty).
- To develop and implement a modern system of advanced training for preschool education workers. To recognize as valid the qualification improvement certificates received from private centers for the improvement of the qualifications of teachers.
As UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore rightly pointed out, “If today’s governments want their workforce to be competitive in tomorrow’s economy, they need to start with early education. If we are to give our children the best shot in life to succeed in a globalized economy, leaders must prioritize, and properly resource, pre-primary education.”
[1] «A world ready to learn: Prioritizing quality early childhood education» https://www.unicef.org/reports/a-world-ready-to-learn-2019
[2] «From Neurons to Neighborhoods. The Science of Early Childhood development» Jack P. Shonkoff, Deborah A. Phillips. National Academies Press (US); 2000, available on the website of National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25077268/
[3] «A world ready to learn: Prioritizing quality early childhood education» https://www.unicef.org/reports/a-world-ready-to-learn-2019, p. 19
[4] Ibid. Table 1.1. p. 16
[5] Compulsory education includes primary education from grades 1 to 4 and basic general education from grades 5 to 9.
[6] http://www.stat.kg/ru/opendata/category/4256/ Data for 2019.
[7] In 2015 it was 19.9%, in 2019 it was 25.4%
[8] https://bala.stat.gov.kz/ohvat-detej-doshkolnym-vospitaniem-i-obucheniem/
[9] https://tass.ru/obschestvo/12218883
[10] “Economic, neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America’s future work force”, PNAS, no. 27th volume 103, July 2006, p. 10157, available on the PNAS website
[11] “The Economic Return on Preschool Education for Disadvantaged Children: Lessons from the HighScope Perry Program” This article is based on the work of: Heckman JJ, Moon SH, Pinto R., Savelyev PA, Yavitz A. A New Cost-Benefit and Rate of Return Analysis for the Perry Preschool Program: A Summary // Cost-effective programs in children’s first decade: A human capital integration / Ed. by A. J. Reynolds, A. Rolnick, M. Englund, J. Temple. Cambridge University Press. The article is published in Russian with the permission of the publisher / per. from English T.N. Strelkova, scientific. ed. per. P. A. Saveliev
[12] UNICEF study for Kyrgyzstan “Universal basic secondary education by 2015. Out of School Children Global Initiative, Bishkek 2012, p. 21
[13] Preschool Education: Problems, Experience and Prospects Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic G. Soronkulov
[14] https://rus.azattyk.org/a/29776573.html “There is no place for children”. Kyrgyzstan lacks about 2,000 kindergartens.
[15] Universal Basic Education by 2015. Out of School Children Global Initiative. Study on Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek 2012
[16] UNICEF Nutrition in Kyrgyzstan https://www.unicef.org/kyrgyzstan/ru/%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5
[17] UNICEF Report “Multidimensional Poverty Assessment in the Kyrgyz Republic 2020” Pages 21-29 https://www.unicef.org/kyrgyzstan/media/7001/file/Multidimensional%20poverty%20measurement%20and%20assessment_Russian.pdf
[18] Website of the National Statistical Committee http://www.stat.kg/ru/news/v-2020-godu-kazhdyj-chetvertyj-zhitel-kyrgyzstana-prozhival-v-usloviyah-bednosti/
[19] According to the 1989 census, 611 thousand inhabitants lived in the city.
[20] Website of the National Statistical Committee http://www.stat.kg/ru/opendata/category/39/
[21] Report of the Akyikatchy (Ombudsman) of the Kyrgyz Republic “New buildings in Bishkek: the right to adequate housing and other social, economic and cultural rights” https://ombudsman.kg/files/docs/reports/2016/new-buildings.pdf
[22] USAID (2011, March 22-31). USAID shares the results of a survey of 45 households to support early childhood education.
[23] Analytical material “On the activities of preschool organizations in the republic in 2019” http://www.stat.kg/ru/ekonomicheskie-zapiski/ p. 4
[24] Analytical material “On the activities of preschool organizations in the republic in 2019” http://www.stat.kg/ru/ekonomic news-zapiski/ p. 3
[25] “93 children in the group. Kindergartens in Osh are overcrowded, the authorities cannot solve the problem “September 15, 2021 https://kloop.kg/blog/2021/09/15/93-rebenka-v-gruppe-detsady-v-oshe-perepolneny-vlasti-ne -mogut-reshit-problemu/; “90-100 people in one group. Kindergartens are filled to capacity “November 14, 2019, https://kaktus.media/doc/400912_90_100_chelovek_v_odnoy_gryppe._detskie_sady_zapolneny_do_predela.html
[26] http://www.stat.kg/ru/news/den-zashity-detej-cifry-i-fakty-na-nachalo-2021-goda-v-respublike-prozhivalo-25-mln-detej/
[27] UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report “Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges” https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232205_eng
[28] International assessment of educational achievements of students – PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), conducted by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
[29] «Reviews of National Policies for Education: Kyrgyz Republic 2010 Lessons from PISA» available at https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryReports?primaryCountry=KGZ