The authorities of Kyrgyzstan have done a lot of work directed at the development of the Russian language in the country. President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov said this in an interview with Kabar.
"We have taken enormous steps to ensure that the Russian language develops throughout the country. Next year, nine Russian-language schools will be built in the country at the expense of the Russian Federation," he said, commenting on his remarks at an expanded government meeting that some ministries and departments continue to conduct document flow preferentially in Russian, which is the official language, and this approach must be changed. According to him, people misunderstood his position as if he was against the use of Russian in the preparation of documents by government agencies.
"Why did I say at a cabinet meeting that documentation should be done in the Kyrgyz language? As you know, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the number of qualified teachers of the Russian language was significantly reduced, especially in the regions. For this reason, it became noticeable that the staff make mistakes when maintaining documentation in Russian. There are simply too many mistakes on one sheet of paper. That's why I suggested to write in the Kyrgyz language to make it more literate, and to attach the Russian version on the back," Zhaparov explained, specifying that he "meant only that."
"In some cases, the main document comes in the Kyrgyz language and the appendix comes in Russian. In order to avoid a confusion, it is necessary that the main document be in Kyrgyz and the Russian version is attached to it. We still have documents translated into Russian from the Kyrgyz language," the president continued. He reminded that the vast majority of Kyrgyz labor migrants work in Russia, so, in his opinion, the compatriots working in Russia "should be fluent in Russian".
"That's why last year, during my first working visit to the Russian Federation, I asked [Russian President] Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] to help with the construction of nine Russian-language schools here. God willing, next year the construction of schools will begin in all regions of the country. If we have good Russian-language schools, if we have good quality education in the Russian language, then maybe in 5–10 years the Russian language will develop with renewed vigor. In principle, it is impossible to conduct business in the CIS countries, within the EEU, without knowing the Russian language. Moreover, the Russian language is widely used in the UN," Zhaparov said.
The state language in Kyrgyzstan is Kyrgyz, Russian has the status of the official language.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS