‘Like herring in a tin’: Kyrgyzstan’s 12-year school switch strains classrooms, prompts city shake-up

Classes topping 50 students, canceled lessons and a sudden shake-up at city hall have marked the first weeks of Kyrgyzstan’s transition to a 12-year school system, prompting one lawmaker to complain that children are being treated “like herring in a tin.” In southeast Bishkek, Samara, a 38-year-old seamstress, said her second-grade daughter is learning in a room with 35 other children.

It is the girl’s first year of school, and it is “crazy” to have so many pupils packed together, she said, adding that the pressure is driving teachers away. “They leave because there are so many students,” she said. “They won’t do it for that little money.” Kyrgyzstan added a new grade for six-year-olds this academic year, more than doubling the usual number of newcomers to the new first grade and to second grade.

The wave—272,000 new students nationwide, including 42,000 in Bishkek—has overwhelmed schools, particularly in the capital, where parents have reported classes with more than 50 students and teacher vacancies have led to lesson cancellations. The transition mirrors a broader regional push.

Since independence in 1991, Central Asian states offered eight to 11 years of schooling; now, they are moving to 12. Kazakhstan completed its shift between 2004 and 2023 but still wrestles with overcrowding. Uzbekistan has announced it will begin 12-year education next year.

Tajikistan’s long-delayed transition is planned for 2029, according to Asia-Plus, with classroom shortages and funding gaps repeatedly stalling reforms in the region’s poorest state. Rapid population growth complicates the equation: Uzbekistan’s population is about 38 million and is rising by roughly 1 million a year.

“We decided it but didn’t prepare,” said political scientist Almaz Tazhybai, who has worked on education reform since 1992. He said he supports 12-year education in principle, but not the way the rollout is unfolding. President Sadyr Japarov acknowledged on September 18 that enrollments exceeded projections, especially in Bishkek, but said the country will not retreat from 12-year schooling.

“It’s not just an extension of studies, it’s a full renewal of the substance of education,” he told the state news agency Kabar. He said new schools are being built and future investment will be directed to the capital first. City officials in Bishkek offered conflicting assessments as the school year began.

On September 16, Vice Mayor Viktoria Mozgacheva told a lawmaker that only 5 percent of teaching positions in the city were vacant. “I didn’t say that everything’s fine. I said that there is a problem, but we’re working on it,” she said.

The next day, after inspecting four schools, Mayor Aibek Dzhunushaliev said one of them—School 56, where dozens of lessons had been canceled due to a lack of teachers—was in a “sorry state.” He fired two municipal education officials and disciplined two other city employees, including Mozgacheva.

With crowded classrooms and thin staffing, parents and teachers are bracing for a difficult year. Officials say the fix will come through new construction and recruitment, but for now, Kyrgyzstan’s push to align with international standards is colliding with the realities of rapid urbanization and limited capacity.