At the beginning of the 2004/05 academic year, the number of teaching staff in secondary vocational educational institutions amounted to 3,019 people, which is 1.4 times more than in the 1999/2000 academic year. This includes 2,250 full-time teachers (74.5% of the total number) and 769 teachers working on a part-time basis (25.5%). With the increase in the number of students, the number of teachers is also growing, and currently, the average student-to-teacher ratio in vocational education institutions is 9:1.
There are two regional councils of directors of vocational education institutions in the republic, which actively participate in shaping the development strategy of vocational education. This allows for effective interaction among educational institutions on organizational, methodological, and substantive issues of vocational education development, improving the quality of education, and optimizing the structure of specialist training.
Currently, in the republic, as well as globally, there is a development of technical, technological, informational, transport-communication, and socio-cultural services. The most numerous and mobile part of the workforce in the service sector consists of middle-level specialists, where the demand for them is growing as the importance of this sector in private entrepreneurship increases. Despite the relatively weak development of the market, alongside traditional types of activity, the employment of specialists with secondary vocational education is expanding in market infrastructure (marketing, financial, legal support), tax-budgetary sphere, and personnel management.
Recently, vocational education institutions have been expanding the practice of utilizing their own potential for developing production activities, which not only improves the quality of specialist training but also provides additional sources of funding for the development of the educational institution. Auxiliary farms and educational-production complexes are being created in collaboration with manufacturing enterprises and service organizations. Educational institutions are entering into agreements with enterprises and organizations for students to undergo practical training, with subsequent employment of graduates.
More than 28 vocational education institutions are part of educational-scientific-production complexes of higher educational institutions, where the teaching staff of universities is used to ensure the educational process in technical schools. Such cooperation allows for improved quality of education and ensures continuous education for those wishing to obtain higher education. The number of graduates from vocational education institutions enrolling in universities for higher education in shorter time frames is increasing, with most of them studying in a part-time format, combining studies with work in their specialty.
In light of the current situation in the system of secondary vocational education, as well as trends in the development of the economy and social sphere, a draft State Program for the Development of the System of Secondary Vocational Education of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2005-2010 has been developed.
Teaching Staff. Today, more than 100,000 educators work in the education system of Kyrgyzstan, of which 13,400 are higher education teachers. The teaching staff comprises over 13,400 people, including 510 doctors and 2,890 candidates of sciences, 512 professors, and 1,660 associate professors. The success of the ongoing radical transformations in the education system and the country as a whole depends on their professional competence, understanding of the goals and objectives of modern reforms, and willingness to implement these reforms.
Positive shifts are evidenced by certain trends. If at the beginning of the 1990s, the admission to the departmental graduate school of the Ministry of Education did not exceed 60 people, currently, more than 1,000 people are studying in the graduate schools of Kyrgyz universities, and 96 people in foreign universities. From 1997 to 2004, 161 dissertations for the degree of candidate of sciences and 12 for the degree of doctor of sciences were defended.
A step towards resolving the issues was the increase in salaries for teachers and other categories of budgetary sector workers by 20% starting in August 2000, and an additional 30% in 2004. A phased legislative increase in the salaries of educational workers to the level of corresponding indicators in developed countries is planned.
