BISHKEK -- The directors of some 1,000 schools in Kyrgyzstan will be replaced before the coming academic year under a presidential decree aiming to combat corruption.
Deputy Education Minister Nadira Jusupbekova said on July 13 that President Sadyr Japarov signed the decree a day earlier, under which all school directors across the Central Asian nation who have held their positions more than five years will be replaced by specialists chosen via specially organized tests.
"The outgoing principals will be eligible to take part in the tests, as well. Tomorrow, the first two such tests will be held in the Talas region where two directors' positions are vacant. In August, the directors of other schools who have held their jobs for more than five years will be replaced. The tests will be held in regional capitals," Jusupbekova said.
The presidential office said earlier that the move is intended to attract young specialists to leadership positions within the education system.
In recent years, school directors in Kyrgyzstan have been criticized for occupying their posts too long and abusing their positions to illegally enrich themselves.
As in many other former Soviet republics, in Kyrgyzstan schools officially called "middle schools" correspond to the elementary, middle, and high schools found in many Western education systems.
There are 2,132 such schools in Kyrgyzstan, of which some 1,000 have directors who have occupied their posts for more than five years.