Bishkek, 16 December 1996 (RFE/RL) - Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev addressed the closing day of a two-day meeting yesterday on improving his country's education system and called for a focus on modern information technologies.
Interfax quotes Akayev as telling the round-table meeting in Bishkek yesterday that Kyrgyzstan must "step straight into the information era, skipping the postindustrial one." He said the introduction of state-of-the-art information technology "must be the goal of the entire system of education, both at secondary schools and at higher educational establishments."
Akayev said that the top priority is computerization of the whole education system. He said education would be a funding priority for the government, accounting for no less than 5 percent of national income.
In addition to Akayev, Minister of Education, Science and Culture Askar Kakeev and other government officials participated in the two-day meeting.