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Until the conquest of Chinggis Khan in the early 13th century Central Asian made substantial contributions to mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences. For example, scientist Ibn Sina (Avicenna) was one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age, and a scientist in medicine and physics in the 11th century, and al-Biruni was a scientist in physics, who is often recognized

as the greatest Islamic scientist. After the 13th century, Central Asian contributions to science began to dissipate as the region entered a period of decline. By the time of the Russian conquest, Central Asia was a technologically backward area of the Islamic world. Before the Soviet Union the state interest in education, science and technology was low. Soviet human development policy gained momentum in Central Asia and these policies affected Central Asia deeply (Sievers 2003, 253–254).

The key task of the Soviet Union education policy was creating the ’socialist person’. There were two aspects of education in the Soviet Union: uchebnaya rabota (curriculum subject-based program) and vospitaniye (’social upbringing’ program). The social upbringing program with universal schooling as a right and duty of citizenship was a revolutionary concept in the Central Asian region. Local cultures emphasised formal and informal social networks, preservation of tribal interest and patriarchal culture confronted Soviet social upbringing with emphasis on gender equality, occupational specialization and advancement through Com- munist Party membership. Uchebnaya rabota was based of the Soviet educational philosophy, which believed that nature and society could be scientifically understood and presented via teachers as a ‘facts’ armed with the theory of Marxism-Leninism. Mathematics and physical sciences were more valued than in western countries (DeYoung 2006, 499–500). All former Soviet Republics had high levels of education and literacy, equal gender enrolment at all levels of education, the system achieved high levels of mathematics and scientific knowledge as well as having schooling and staffing levels that were in excess of market-based economics at comparable per capita income levels (Shagdar 2006). Education in the Soviet Union was free. With massive campaigns for basic education, the literacy rate in what is now Kyrgyzstan jumped from 16.5 per cent in 1926 to 99.8 per cent in 1979 (Shamatov 2012, 73).

Although Kyrgyzstan benefited from the education system, it also meant compromising local values, languages and culture. Soviet education was based on the ideology of the Communist party and creating communist people. This meant the curriculum was given from Moscow, with no opportunities for local adaptation. Social sciences and humanities were not part of the curriculum. Also, the education system was inflexible and making any changes to the system was impossible (Shagdar 2006, 515). Students studied the same curriculum despite where they came from. While Soviet education overtly promoted internationalism above nationalist and ethnic identities, and in practice it promoted Russian identity over national identities within the Soviet Union. Shamatov (2012, 73–74) pointed out how students were largely exposed to the same centrally designed curriculum, with only minor local adaptations. Success in the Soviet Union was closely related to speaking and acting culturally Russian at the cost of the Kyrgyz language, identity and culture.

One common characteristic of Soviet education systems was how education in the party and states was expected to provide ideological cohesion. Teachers in Soviet schools were using pedagogical techniques that helped to build unity inside the classroom, at the school level, in the community, in the party and in the whole Soviet Union. At the beginning, behavior was regulated through the peer group, which leads to synthesis at the next level. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, western scholars started to highlight the differences between western and Soviet education models. For example, Heyneman (1998) emphasized demands of political and economic transformations, and ideological move away from the socialist past toward a western future. The Soviet education model was based on the role of the party and Soviet state. In a centrally administered Soviet economy there were a little need for individual decision-making. He argued that this should be compared with western economies, which were based on individual decision- making. Heyneman (1998, 23) estimated that education could be the driving force for making the change towards western ideals.

At the same time, actors in the field of higher education in Central Asia saw this need for change from a slightly different perspective. Central Asia benefited from the Soviet science policy and now, three decades after the dissolution of Soviet Union, we can see that the national education systems and practices have shown considerable path dependence. The level of higher education and science was high during the Soviet years. In the Soviet Union, science and technology served as an important part of national politics, practices, and identity. Sievers (2003, 255) has argued, that science was a tangible, important and influential phenomenon during the Soviet period and the development and distribution of science was supported from Moscow. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union implemented a process of forced settlement and collectivization in the Kyrgyz SSR. Early Bolshevik programs of ‘civilizing’ the Central Asia included implementation of the higher education institutions and establishing branch offices of the Russian Academy of Science. These institutions existed side by side with traditional educational institutions such as maktab and madrasa until 1930 (Khalid 1999).

The first university in the Kyrgyz SSR was established in 1925. Student numbers were set by the State Planning Committee (Gosplan), which determined the demand for particular specializations in the national economy. All levels of education were state-funded and public. By the time of independence in 1991, the country had 12 institutions of higher education, each of which served a different function within the educational system.

In 1921, the first National Geological Survey of Talas and the western part of the Kyrgyz Chain were implemented. In 1931, the Academy of Science’s most approved strategy was to create affiliates throughout the country, with emphasis on five Siberian cities, four Central Asian capitals and Tiflis (now Tbilisi). As a result of this, in 1954 the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR was

established. Elements of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR are visible in the present in current Academy of Science. In 1993, the Academy of Science of the Kyrgyz Republic was transformed into the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Re-public (NAS KR) and gained the status of the supreme public scientific institution by government decree. Sievers (2003, 273) argued that the scientific level was significantly high when the Soviet Union broke up.

In 1991 many areas of Central Asia were capable making investments that would have created high-technology islands of expertise in molecular biology, computer science and heavy industry. Two decades later, Central Asia had witnessed the loss of the best personnel, scientifically insufficient technological capacity (much of the equipment sold abroad) and inadequate pathways for young scholars, so such development is now impossible. International scientific activities of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic are an essential part of its development. The Academy is funded from a separate line in the republic’s budget and includes basic program financing for basic and applied studies, as well as financial provision of academic science infrastructure. By the beginning of 2000, the Academy of Science had signed more than 90 Agreements on Cooperation with scientific institutions in foreign countries, including cooperation with the Chinese, Russians and Kazakhs. Priority Scientific Areas of the Academy of Science are water and energy resources, new technology and materials, information technology and management problems, complex study and subsoil development of mountain territories, reproduction of bio resources, biotechnology and human being and society (The Decree of the NAS KR Presidium № 37, 2009). It is undeniable, however, that the level of the Academy of Sciences is no longer equivalent to that it used to be during the Soviet years.