Kyrgyzstan

In Kyrgyzstan there are seven kindergartens, of which 4 are in the capital city of Bishkek, who are working on the basis of or are oriented toward Waldorf education.  Only some of the  early childhood educators in these kindergartens have completed a Waldorf training course, partly because of the frequent turnover among educators. There are two new initiatives that want to found Waldorf schools, one in the capital and one in the countryside.

Looking Back. Waldorf education came to Kyrgyzstan through the curative education center „Nadjeschda“, which means “hope”. It was founded 25 years ago. Its intensive activity rayed out so that former co-workers founded the first Waldorf kindergarten.  Waldorf education spread further for many years through the annual public “Central Asian Waldorf Seminar” in which educators from  Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Germany worked together and through further training courses. Through the graduates of these courses elements of Waldorf education can be found today in a number of municipal and private  kindergartens.

Training. Due to the great interest in Waldorf training for early childhood and for elementary a third training course began in January 2016 with 45 participants from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan.  

This course is supported by the Ministry of Education and takes place at the University of Bishkek. As with the two earlier training courses, it is supported by IASWECE. The course takes place over the course of three years with a total of ten block weeks, plus presentations and a final independent project. Faculty members from Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Germany carry responsibility for the course.

Problem. Unfortunately, there is no fully established Waldorf kindergarten here, where educators can see and experience a real Waldorf kindergarten. This is a challenge.

Wolfgang-M.Auer (Witten/Germany) is a Waldorf teacher and teaches in early childhood and class teacher training courses