Cheap labour…
This is a translation of Mirsulzhan’s post.
According to the report of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), Kyrgyz school pupils have demonstrated the lowest level of knowledge. AKIpress refers to the Russian newspaper “Vzglyad” that informs that these are the results of the research of the PISA implemented by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last year in 57 countries. Like in previous years, the highest level of knowledge was demonstrated by the Finnish graduates of secondary school (563 scores). Also the top three countries were Hong Kong (542) and Canada (534) and Taiwan (532). The worst result was demonstrated by the pupils in Kyrgyzstan (322), Qatar (349) and Azerbaijan (382). PISA conducts this kind of survey once every three years. The focus in the framework of the third survey was put on the natural sciences. Reading and mathematics were the key subjects.
In many Kyrgyzstani schools teachers of physical science began teaching mathematics, geography, history and etc and professional teachers have already left their work places and now earn on the markets. If you simply visit one rural school, especially in autumn or spring, you will understand that not only the students do not attend school because of agricultural work on the field, but also the teachers. This type of situation can be observed not only in the rural schools, but also in some urban. I am a recent schoolboy, so that I can clearly remember.
All problems mentioned above, and those I do not know about (education system, methods and practice of teaching and learning), lead to the fact that there are more unskilled workers than skilled ones in the country today. In this case it is not realistic to talk about such things as innovation and creativity in Kyrgyzstan.
We all say now that one of Kyrgyzstan has the advantage of offering cheap labour in order to attract investors. However, in fact, even investors need highly skilled workers and not only those who can do the easiest algorithm of actions.
on December 2nd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Where is USA on these standards? Any correlation between a certain demographic and test scores? This article is vague and portrays only the population of Kyrgyzstan which are farmers. Non-farmers, especially, non-Kyrgyz remnants top many other individuals in competing for placement in Russian and Turkish Universities because their innate abilities.
on December 5th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I don’t think “innate abilities” have much, if anything, to do with it. The point here is that it is particularly children in rural schools, which find it harder to attract teachers, that come off badly as a result since both the quality and quantity of teaching they receive is poor. This situation is compounded by the fact that education in rural areas often looks like a luxury and so it is not valued (because it is seen as irrelevant to their lives) as much as by some mainly urbanised minorities.
One needs to be very careful to look beyond convenient ethnic labels and consider the whole range of socio-cultural and economic factors that contribute to this situation. While there may be a link between ethnicity and academic achievement due to socio-economic conditions, it is utterly incorrect to assume that ethnicity in itself is a predictor of acheivement.
To help contextualise the article, please see the OECD PISA website, and specifically the 2006 Report (available for download in 2 volumes).