The literature review and the critical discourse analysis of the EDS 2020, as well as of the general educational reform discourse helped reveal the predominance of the neoliberal discourse in the processes of educational reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic. As Fairclough points out in this regard, the problem here is not about economic ambitions of neoliberalism or ‘new capitalism’, but “the particular form in which this is being imposed, and the particular consequences” such as
36 unequal distribution of wealth followed by increasing division between wealthy and poor groups of people, and deterioration of environment. He also mentioned the “disastrous consequences” caused by interference of international financial agencies in post-socialist countries (Fairclough, 2003, pp. 3-4).
I would argue that currently the education system of the Kyrgyz Republic is floating in “disastrous consequences” of the neoliberal discourse that have been dominating educational reforms since 1990s. One could think about a number of reasons for that, like poor economy, lack of technology, poor management, etc. However, the most crucial one seems to be
corruption. Moreover, I argue that at this point it is the derivant problem for all other problems. Its burgeoning tendency since the collapse of the USSR is arguably linked to the burgeoning neoliberal ideology in the reform policies of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The reason for this is the sudden and radical change of the structure and ideology of society, accompanied with catching-up realization and rationalization of the on-going processes. Neoliberal norms and values were not even a new page in the history of the post-communist society, but rather a new book of a different genre in a different language. The public was hardly prepared for that, but nevertheless it started to ‘read’ it, ‘interpret’ and make conclusions on its own. Given meager resources and the advent of a free market economy, along with no previous experience in capitalist entrepreneurship, interpretation of the new ‘book’ on capitalism appeared in its ‘wild’ view – so called ‘wild capitalism’, which was characteristic of the post-communist countries, and even regarded by some as not deviant, but integral part of the transition process (Upchurch, M., & Marinkovic, D, 2011).
Elements of ‘wild capitalism’ constituted discursive practice of capitalism that penetrated virtually all aspects of life in the Kyrgyz Republic, including education. Frustrated by the current
37 implications of the recommendations made by a team of the World Bank experts (himself being one of them) two decades ago, Heyneman makes the following statement regarding the
functioning of private universities introduced after the collapse of the Soviet Union:
“Where professional integrity is not based on tradition, “private” university may imply that all educational products are for sale. Codes of conduct and legal agreements spelling out the rights and obligations of students and faculty are only now beginning to appear” (Heyneman, 2008, p. 21)
However more vicious consequences of corruption are on the level of decision makers, who in the process of policy making in cooperation with international agencies pursue primarily their individual interests, even if it can be useless at best, and harmful at worst for the larger society he or she is part of. This, I would argue, might be one of the reasons why there are policies that address inadequately identified or prioritized problems. Decision makers first and foremost make all they can in order to get funding to implement whatever project is being suggested by
international donor organizations. Then they are free to use the funds in the most beneficial way for their personal economic improvement. This sort of affairs is hard to prove, however, it is also something that ordinary citizen is aware of and accepts as a norm.
As stated above, the EDS 2020 reinforces the neoliberal agenda, which is focused on further reinforcement of marketization and commodification, as well as monetization of
education. Students being ‘customers’ (Saunders, 2011) at HEIs and considering their education fees as investments (along with bribes they pay to instructors), upon completing their studies hurry to return the cost of investment with surplus. Elements of wild capitalism allow them to undermine ethical principles at work, which leads to further cycle of corrupt spiral.
In short, I would agree with Engvall (2011), who states that “In Kyrgyzstan the
38 Republic. While education policies might be limited in their reach to in-service officials, it has full capacities to address problems of corruption within the education sector.
Other than corruption, there is a problem with qualification of university faculty. As it was mentioned earlier, society expects students to be creative, critically thinking labor, who would be immediately ‘bought’ at the labor market. I argue that fitting the labor market should not be the goal of education in itself; I think that education is there to assist individuals to grow personally on an intellectual and ethical level. However, even to fulfill the former goal,
university faculty members need support in their professional development.
The problem of curriculum also deserves serious consideration given the grand shift in the socio-economic and political structure of the society.
To sum up, in my opinion the above mentioned three problems are interconnected and need a complex approach in addressing them. I argue that these issues are more important at this stage of the development of the Kyrgyz education than currently pursued purely
monetary/economic purposes in education. I believe addressing these issues will also contribute to moral qualities of the society, which is crucial given the level of corruption in the country. However, drawing on analysis results of the EDS 2020, one can see that these problems are not in the scope of the educational reforms for the next several years.
39
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