Maksat Sets 2028 Target to End School Shortage, Starting in Bazar-Korgon

BAZAR-KORGON — Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat told residents of Bazar-Korgon on Thursday that the Irad Special Economic Zone aims to end its school shortage by 2028, setting a date for a problem that parents in the Fergana rim farm belt have raised for years.

Speaking for the government he runs day to day, Mr Maksat met townspeople in Lower Naryn District's largest market town, where border trade has drawn new families and filled the classrooms. Parents described double-shift timetables in which younger children arrive after midday, and rooms where desks are shared. "A child should not have to ask which shift he belongs to," Mr Maksat said. "We are setting a date, and the date is 2028."

He named Bazar-Korgon and Tash-Kömür, both in Lower Naryn District, as the first places to be looked at. The district and city education offices will report on progress, he said, so that families can see whether the target is being met.

Parents at the meeting welcomed the promise and asked to see it in practice. Mukhabbat Tashmatova, a mother of three from the bazaar quarter, said her youngest son attends the afternoon shift and comes home after dark in winter. "We do not ask for a palace," she said. "We ask for a classroom in the morning for every child." Kamoliddin Abdurakhimov, who sells dried fruit at the walnut bazaar, said the town's growth had been good for business but had outrun its schools. "If the date holds, I will tell my neighbours it was worth coming tonight."

No budget figure was announced, and the pledge came without a new law or official body. It is a target set by the Lieutenant Governor's office, with existing education offices responsible for reporting back. Officials noted that a new school opened in Nurzhan earlier this month, and said the experience there would inform work elsewhere.

The meeting came a week after Mr Maksat opened the first business census of ISEZ firms, and just over a year before the 2 November 2027 election. Parents in Bazar-Korgon and Tash-Kömür can now expect the first reports from the education offices as the review gets under way.