Kyrgyz authorities announced on Monday the implementation of a series of measures to combat school violence, following the deaths of three teenage students in less than a month.
Between January 21 and February 12, three students were killed by their peers in various schools across the central Asian country, leading authorities to respond.
At least one other student was stabbed during the same period, and police stated on Monday that a 2008-born child was hospitalised after being beaten.
According to Kyrgyzstan’s official news agency, Kabar, the Interior and Education Ministers will install “emergency buttons” in all schools, boost video surveillance, and expand the number of inspectors in charge of kids, particularly those “at risk.”
More than 30 interior ministry representatives were sacked, and approximately 40 were sanctioned, a senior police officer told legislators, promising to “do everything to put an end to this wave” of violence.
In mid-February, an education ministry spokesperson stated that he was “very concerned” about the issue and that at least 3,600 students had been classified as “at risk.”
He cited the situations of children from single-parent homes and those whose parents had travelled to work abroad, leaving them without parental supervision.
Kyrgyzstan, one of the poorest former Soviet Union countries, sees over 200,000 citizens per year working in Russia, leaving their children in the care of relatives.
