According to the census data, significant changes occurred in the distribution of the employed population by types of activity from 1989 to 1999. The number of people employed in industrial production decreased by 2.6 times over the decade. In the mining industry, the number of employed people fell by more than 3 times from 1998 to 1999, totaling 8,400 individuals.
In the republic's manufacturing industry during the same period, 6.2% of the total working-age population was employed. The structure of its sectors is dominated by the production of food products and beverages (27.6% of the total number of workers in this sector), machinery, equipment, and apparatus of all kinds (16.6%), clothing, as well as fur dressing and dyeing (12%), and textile products (11.3%).
The number of people employed in the production and distribution of electricity, steam, gas, and hot water at the time of the census was 25,700 individuals (1.5% of the total employed population). This sector is one of the most stable branches of the economy, where the number of employed people has not undergone significant changes.
Over the years of reform, the importance of the agricultural and forestry sector in the republic has increased, and accordingly, the number of people employed in it has grown by 1.6 times. In 1999, more than 55% of the total employed population was engaged in agriculture. The number of people employed in the service sector decreased by 18% during these years.
Within this sector, significant structural changes occurred, characterized by a reduction in employment in transportation and communications (by 2.1 times), education (by 28%), and healthcare (by 15%). However, at the same time, the number of people whose main activity was wholesale and retail trade increased by 1.8 times, and financial activities grew by 7%.
The current development of the economy and social sphere leads to an increased demand for mid-level specialists, changes in their roles, places, and functions, and higher requirements for their competence, technological culture, and work quality, which inevitably affects the development of the system of secondary vocational education (SVE). The volume of government spending on the SVE system amounted to 8.3% of total government expenditures on education, while 19.6% was spent on higher professional education.
Now, as small production, the household and service sector, small entrepreneurship, and private construction are developing, the demand for mid-level production specialists has sharply increased. The system of vocational education has maintained its potential by inertia and gradually transitioned to market relations.
General characteristics of the secondary vocational education system. Since the adoption of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Education" in 1992 until the amendments were made in 1997, there was no secondary vocational education as a level of education in the education system.
During the reform of the vocational education system, it was planned to create a multi-level system of post-secondary education, which would include SVE as the first level of higher vocational education. It was proposed to convert secondary vocational educational institutions (SVEs) into colleges, where training of junior specialists with higher education (bachelor of technology) would take place over a period of four years.
However, this level of qualification did not take root in the labor market and turned out to be an unviable dead-end option. Specialists with four years of training were not perceived by employers as specialists with completed higher education, and they often had to continue their studies under a five-year higher education program. Therefore, starting from 2001, these programs were canceled and brought in line with the status of secondary vocational education programs (with a training period of two to three years).
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of SVEs: from 53 in 1998 to 75 in 2004 (eight educational institutions were created in 2005 alone).
More than 59% of all SVEs are located in the regions of the republic. The highest number of students is in the Osh region — 14%. In the Chui region — 13% and in the Jalal-Abad region — 11% of students. As of October 1, 2003, the number of students enrolled in SVEs was 31,178, which is an increase of 14.7% compared to 1999. The number of students studying on a budget basis is 13,200, or 42.3% of the total number of students in SVEs. A total of 14,703 students are studying under contract, of which 3,275 are in part-time education. Only in state SVEs are 29,520 students enrolled.
Overall, student enrollment in secondary vocational education programs increased by 14.8% (4,024 individuals) compared to previous years, mainly due to those studying on a contract basis. Over the past five years, the number of students studying under contract in state SVEs has increased by 8,047 students, or 48.3%. In the non-state sector of the SVE system, 658 students are enrolled, which accounts for 2.1% of the total number of students in SVEs.
The increase in the number of students and the expansion of the network of SVEs occurred due to the opening of new state and non-state educational institutions in the regions of the republic and in Bishkek. There are 22 technical schools under the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic, of which 17 SVEs are part of universities as structural divisions while retaining their status as legal entities. 30 educational institutions of SVE are under the ministries of health, culture, industry and trade, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Communications, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and the Cooperative Association, as well as 11 technical schools under universities and 4 non-state SVEs.
At the beginning of the 2004/05 academic year, training in SVEs was conducted in 55 specialties. In the structure of training by the profile of the specialties obtained, 30.2% of students are in healthcare, 21.6% in economics and management, 8.8% in education, 5% in culture and arts, 4.8% in agriculture and fisheries, and 4.5% in technological machines and equipment.
From 1999 to 2004, the number of students in the following specialties increased: energy (by 6.8 times), environmental protection and life support (by 2.8 times), transportation operation (by 1.3 times), consumer goods technology (by 1.2 times). At the same time, the number of students studying in the following specialties decreased: instrumentation — by 5.6 times, machine engineering and metalworking — by 2.4 times, food technology — by 1.5 times, education and construction and architecture — by 1.3 times, mineral resource development — by 1.3 times, agriculture and fisheries — by 1.2 times.
Non-state SVEs provide training in a limited range of specialties. Training is conducted in the following specialties: education (48.2% of the total number of students), economics and management (24.1%), consumer goods technology (19.9%), and humanitarian and social specialties (7.8%).
From 1999 to 2004, there was an increase in student enrollment in secondary vocational educational institutions by 11.2%. In just the last year, the number of students enrolling in SVEs increased by 1,947 individuals, which is 13.8% more (over the year). Since 2000, the demand for SVE has been growing, and the number of applicants to SVEs has increased. For several years, the competition for admission across all forms of education has been 1.5 applicants per place.
The structure of training specialists with secondary vocational education is changing. At the beginning of the 2003/04 academic year, 29.1% of the total number of admitted students were enrolled in healthcare specialties, 23.1% in economics and management, and 9.2% in education. In the structure of graduates, the majority is in the following specialties: healthcare (35.9% of the total number of graduates), economics and management (19.2%), education (10.2%), culture and arts (4%). In non-state SVEs, graduation occurred only in three specialties: education (1.1% of the total number of graduates), economics and management (0.6%), and consumer goods technology (0.4%).
The main sources of funding in the SVE system are budgetary funds (state or local) and payment for education under contracts with individuals or legal entities. Budget funding ensures the minimum wage for teachers and scholarships for students. Many SVEs successfully utilize forms of non-budgetary funding by expanding the volume of paid educational services and engaging in production activities (producing goods, serving the population).