Religious affiliation(s) None Language Uzbek Founded 26 August 1994 | Headmaster Davron Xudaynazarov Address Isfana, Kyrgyzstan | |
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School type Elementary, secondary, and high school Established August 26, 1994; 22 years ago (1994-08-26) Similar Alisher Navoiy Secondar, Isfana Secondary School, Yuri Gagarin Secondar, Toktogul Secondary School, Uzbek Gymnasi | ||
Amir Temur Secondary School (Uzbek: Amir Temur nomli oʻrta maktab, Амир Темур номли ўрта мактаб'; Russian: Средняя школа имени Амира Темура; Kyrgyz: Амир Темур атындагы орто мектеби) is a secondary school in Isfana, Kyrgyzstan. Although the school is called a secondary school, it offers classes for grades one through eleven. The school courses are taught in Uzbek.
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The school was established in 1994. Amir Temur Secondary School was formerly called Usmon Matkarimov Secondary School. After the establishment of Usmon Matkarimov Gymnasium and Boarding School, the name of the school was changed to Amir Temur Secondary School in honor of the Turkic Ruler Timur.
General framework and curriculum
At Amir Temur Secondary School, children are accepted to first grade at the age of six or seven, depending on the child's individual development. The eleven-year school term is split into elementary (grades 1-4), middle (grades 5-9) and senior (grades 10-11) classes. Attending a "basic" nine-year (elementary and middle) program is compulsory. Grades 10-11 are optional.
At Amir Temur Secondary School, children of elementary classes are separated from other classes within their own school building. They are taught, ideally, by a single teacher through all four elementary grades (except for physical education and foreign languages).
Starting from the fifth grade, each academic subject is taught by a dedicated specialty teacher. The school curriculum for senior students includes subjects like mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, geography, biology, arts, music, physical education, history, and astronomy. English is taught as a foreign language starting from the fifth grade.
Like many other schools in Kyrgyzstan, Amir Temur Secondary School is a double shift school where two streams of students (morning shift and evening shift) share the same facility. The reason for this is that school capacity is insufficient to teach all of the students on a normal, morning-to-afternoon, schedule.
The school year extends from the beginning of September to the end of May and is divided into four terms. The school curriculum at Amir Temur Secondary School is fixed: unlike in some Western countries, schoolchildren cannot choose what subjects to study. Students are graded on a five-step scale, ranging in practice from 2 ("unacceptable") to 5 ("excellent"); 1 is a rarely used sign of extreme failure. Teachers regularly subdivide these grades (i.e. 4+, 5-) in daily use, but term and year results are graded strictly 2, 3, 4, or 5.
Medium of instruction
The medium of instruction at Amir Temur Secondary School is Uzbek. In addition to Uzbek, students also study three other languages, namely English, Kyrgyz, and Russian. Like in many other Uzbek-language schools in Kyrgyzstan, the future of teaching in Uzbek remains uncertain at Amir Temur Secondary School.
Lately Kyrgyz authorities have been taking measures to remove the Uzbek language from public life and have been pushing to forcibly switch Uzbek schools to Kyrgyz. There are not enough school textbooks in Uzbek and the Kyrgyz government is unwilling provide them, claiming that it does not have enough funds. As Kyrgyz officials strongly oppose the use of textbooks printed in Uzbekistan, currently the majority of Uzbek schoolchildren in Kyrgyzstan study in Uzbek using Kyrgyz textbooks. In addition, in the past few years the number of teaching hours allocated to Kyrgyz language and literature lessons at Uzbek schools has been significantly increased at the expense of Uzbek language and literature lessons.