Language-in-education policy in the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
Abstract
The Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are relatively formed nations reaching their 25th anniversary of independence at the time of writing. The standardisation of the languages of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan represents the dividing up of a linguistic continuum of Turkic and Persian languages that created new national varieties. Local language literacies were based on the practices taught in Islamic schools rather being the specific focus of literacy teaching. With the creation of the Central Asian republics in the 1920s, the Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek languages became official languages, alongside Russian. The dual official languages and the recognition of minority ethnic languages have led to the development of a multilingual education policy and the education law in Kyrgyzstan guarantees a right to learning of both a mother tongue and Kyrgyz. At tertiary level, the situation is complex, with universities offering a range of different languages of instruction.