The project, Distance education to improve quality and access to school education in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Tajikistan, seeks to promote innovative distance learning approaches that ensure equitable access and quality education for children from disadvantaged groups with a focus on remote rural communities, gender and ethnicity in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan.
Early research findings suggest that education management structures in some countries minimized the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, ethnic minorities have been neglected in this process. These communities are often also on the social and geographic margins of society. For example, in Kyrgyzstan, in the process of developing video lessons during the pandemic, it was international organizations that addressed the needs of schools in remote regions that teach in the languages of ethnic minorities. Southern Kyrgyzstan suffers from social isolation and a lack of government attention to the needs of ethnic minorities, which leads to public frustration and conflict with other communities. Using such findings for policies targeting under-supported regions is key to reaching this project’s objectives.
