The general education system in the Kyrgyz Republic includes 11 grades. Only grades 1 to 9 are compulsory and free. Among these grades, grades 1 to 4 are considered to be primary education and grades 5 to 9 are identified as (lower) secondary education. Complete general secondary education requires two additional years of study at the upper secondary level (grades 10 and 11) which are also provided for free in the state-run educational institutions of the Republic (IBE 2011). In Kyrgyzstan, children start school either at the age of 6 or 7 depending on the development of the child. While access to general education is very high, differences within the Republic are evident and represent a challenge for the MoES and its policies. The quality of general education is also a major concern. 

Access to primary and secondary education is very high in the Kyrgyz Republic. In 2009, 95% of children completed their primary education (IBE 2011). There appears to be only a small disparity between rural and urban areas in terms of access to primary education. In 2009, the net enrolment rate for primary education was listed at 84%, and 79% for secondary education, which were well below the regional enrolment rates of respectively 89% and 88% for primary and secondary education. In fact, net enrolment in lower secondary education has been decreasing for the past 8 years: from 92.8% in 2002 to 74% in 2010. Child labour, particularly common in rural communities, is often the cause of non-attendance, dropout and decreases in transition rates between primary and secondary levels of education. In terms of gender parity, there are no significant differences in participation of boys and girls in both primary and secondary education (UIS 2009). Participation in education is not entirely free. Schools often charge extra enrolment and other supplementary fees. These funds can make up to a third of the school’s budget. Insufficient funding has become an impediment to closing the participation gap between urban and rural areas.

At both primary and secondary education levels, the quality of schooling is a key issue in the Kyrgyz Republic. The results of Monitoring Learning Achievement (MLA) surveys carried out by UNICEF and UNESCO have indicated the decrease in literacy and numeracy rates from 60% and 81% in 2001 to 44% and 59% in 2005 respectively (UNESCO 2008). The results of this survey highlighted the disparities in literacy and educational attainment between the rural and urban regions of Kyrgyzstan. Students whose language of instruction was Russian had better attainment than those students who get education in Kyrgyz or Uzbek languages. Problems in the provision of teaching-learning materials and the availability of qualified personnel also contribute to low quality of education. The MoES does not forecast the changes to the total number of students when ordering textbooks, resulting in both serious shortages and overstocks of such materials. Because of lower teacher salaries, the recruitment of qualified teaching personnel is another challenge which affects efforts to raise the quality of education. These challenges are particularly flagrant in Kyrgyz language schools that are plagued by limited availability of teaching-learning materials, and are also more likely to be staffed by younger and less experienced teachers (IBE 2011).

Most primary and secondary general education schools are meant to be managed by local governments through the Departments of Education. However, the MoES retains considerable control of the management and administration of primary and secondary schools by appointing teachers and principals. Local governments’ ability to manage education resources is constrained by centrally mandated norms that specify for each course the minimum and maximum permissible class sizes and number of teaching hours per teacher (Mertaugh 2004). The curriculum for primary and secondary schools is set by the MoES on the basis on national education standards (IBE 2011). On the financial side, the majority of primary and secondary school funding comes from national and provincial government budgets. However, an increasing reliance on non-budgetary sources, particularly in urban schools contributes to inequality. The salaries of primary and secondary teachers are financed directly from the national budget. 

Much like in other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, the Kyrgyz government’s top priority (articulated in its CDS for 2009-2011) in primary and secondary education is to improve accessibility and quality; improve policy and increase effectiveness of secondary education; mobilize market resources and assist schools. The results of MLA and PISA assessments have highlighted the need for the government to address the question of quality and also to modernize the Kyrgyz education system. In addition, a change from the current 11-year to a 12-year education system is being studied and represents one of the major reform objectives for the MoES. The integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education is also seen as a key objective for bringing education in line with changing needs of the current labour market (UNESCO 2008). In order to combat the permanent shortage of teachers, the MoES initiated the Young Teachers' Deposit programme in 2004 with the aim of getting graduate teachers to teach in remote rural schools through opening deposit accounts in savings banks and entitling them to receive these accumulated savings after 3 years teaching (MoES 2006).