Bishkek, Aug. 21, 2026 /Kabar/. As part of the transition to 12-year education, Kyrgyzstan is placing special emphasis on retraining teachers and enhancing their professional competence. Education Minister Dogdurkul Kendirbaeva spoke at the National Pedagogical Forum "Education Changing the Era: Creative Teachers - Developed Countries."
According to her, while 80,000 teachers underwent retraining last year, this year 29,000 teachers of grades just transitioning to the 12-year education system have received advanced training.
"For the first time, a sustainable teacher training system has been created at the president's initiative. Twenty-seven teacher development centers, as well as teacher development institutes at each institute, will begin operating. Their salaries are higher than those of school teachers," she said.
According to the minister, 85% of the program for transitioning to 12-year education, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, has been implemented to date.
Kendirbaeva noted that one of the most challenging tasks in the transition to the 12-year system was developing state and subject educational standards, as well as preparing textbooks.
"Last year, four grades transitioned to 12-year education, and this year, four more will transition. While 3 million books were published between 2017 and 2024, in just one year we have published 4.5 million copies. This year, we are also publishing books worth 644 million soms, and additional funding of over 600 million soms is planned," the minister said.
She also added that work is underway to prepare textbooks with domestic content on the Kyrgyz language, Kyrgyz literature, geography, and history, which are planned to be fully developed within two years.
