Given the ongoing shifts in the country's economic sectors, the government's definition of priority development sectors, and other emerging business sectors and niches with future potential, the ETF assessment finds that the demand for human capital development is growing and becoming more diversified. In particular, VET and lifelong learning will need to be better prepared and respond more quickly in order to make a significant contribution to the country's new growth model.

Skills demand and supply are changing and the distribution problems in VET need to be tackled immediately. The adult population, including the teaching workforce, has a significant gap in digital skills, which is particularly pronounced in rural areas. Adult learning has been a blind spot for policy attention and a grey area for information and evidence. As a result, the provision is far from meeting the current and future demand envisaged in the country's economic and social policy goals.

Of serious concern for human capital development are two phenomena that are closely interlinked and need to be addressed together. On one hand, a substantial urban–rural divide and the resulting inequalities do not allow the country to make full use of its potential. On the other hand, a high level of poverty persists and continues to undermine the potential of human capital. Both phenomena tend to become vicious circles and call for a socially inclusive, integrated approach to skills development.

Limited choices for education and training and challenging conditions for learning and training must be overcome. Putting the priority on tackling poverty and reducing disparities in the quality of and access to education and training will become even more necessary because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is expected to hit the poor, vulnerable and young the hardest.

VET provision at all levels (initial, post-secondary and continuing VET) should more closely and rapidly follow the trend towards a diversified, digitalised economy, including in the country's priority sectors for future development. This is especially important for the agro-industrial complex, light industry clusters, tourism and sustainable development, and green investment in public infrastructure. Efforts should also be made to improve the connection between the education and training sector and sectoral development strategies, which rarely consider the importance of VET and skills provision from a lifelong learning perspective. An independent review of the national list of occupations and VET profiles should be carried out in close cooperation with business organisations. Special attention should be paid to ICT fields of study at different qualification levels.

Considering the gap between the country's high policy ambitions to digitalise the economy and society and become a digital hub in the region on the one hand and the low level of digital literacy among the population on the other hand, the ETF suggests that Kyrgyzstan launch a National Digital Skills Initiative to span all levels of education over a life cycle of at least ten years. Kyrgyzstan could test and adapt the European Digital Competence Frameworks for organisations, teachers and citizens, together with the related tools[2] For example, SELFIE or SELFIE for work-based learning is an online self-reflection tool that helps primary and secondary general and vocational schools to reflect on how they are using digital technologies for effective and innovative teaching and learning: https://ec.europa.eu/education/schools-go-digital_en
. Kyrgyzstan should also engage in a large-scale information and training campaign on digital literacy for adults. A special funding facility could be associated with the Skills Development Fund.

To overcome the current piecemeal approach, which is characterised by the development of various instruments and tools within the remit of different organisations and projects, uncoordinated implementation that often lacks regular follow-up, and the consequent risks to sustainability, the ETF recommends establishing inter-ministerial operational leadership and coordination mechanisms for the labour market and skills anticipation. A master plan should establish a roadmap for systematic and regular application of the most viable tools, including a division of work among the various institutions involved and monitoring to determine whether the results are used by education and training planners. To support the sustainability of new tools, the capacity of the Kyrgyz higher education sector should be leveraged and national resources allocated.

As quality assurance in VET is not yet fully developed, any existing gaps need to be closed and links need to be made between quality assurance in general education and VET. Coordinated efforts are required across the subsectors of education. Since 2019 a number of sectoral dissemination and competence centres have been set up in primary and secondary VET. However, thought might also be given to developing them into VET centres of excellence, which would span the education subsectors and cover applied research and business incubation.

Needs-oriented continuing professional development of VET teachers and trainers should be expanded and a standard introduced for assessing the quality of learning infrastructure, including aspects of internet connectivity.

To create better lifelong learning opportunities, especially through continuing vocational education and training, a dedicated National Training Alliance of key VET stakeholders should combine the forces of several partners from the public and private sectors in order to focus on reskilling and upskilling adults with outdated or low levels of skills. In addition to training initiatives, the alliance could implement a range of other activities, including lifelong learning weeks in rural areas, and help to create a lifelong learning culture among the population. Given that the capacities of public providers may be limited, the capacity of the private training sector should be assessed and its role strengthened.

Regional and rural development initiatives and funds should integrate and strengthen the skills dimension more systematically to increase access to education and training beyond primary VET. An innovative, flexible approach that uses blended learning, including distance education and modular environments in secondary education and VET, should be tested and evaluated. This would also require specific attention to infrastructure development, including better connectivity.

To make the education and training offering more attractive to people in rural areas, the range of VET programmes needs to be broadened beyond traditional occupations. Also, practical training in enterprises and organisations should be incentivised both for practical training providers and for students.

To tackle the high dropout rate in VET and the phenomenon of students who fail to attend full-time because of the requirements of family work, support services should be enhanced for both students and families. Proper student counselling and career guidance can improve access for vulnerable groups and prevent students from dropping out of school and VET. Additional learning support opportunities could also play a significant role in this respect. A pilot financial support scheme for poor families could be tested to see whether it has a positive impact on school and VET attendance.

The effectiveness of the allocation of training resources for the unemployed should be reviewed and funds increased for active labour market measures, especially for training and career guidance for the most vulnerable groups.

Further attention should be paid to data collection and monitoring on the participation of vulnerable groups in education and training. The current approach is based on a narrow definition of vulnerability[3] Data are typically collected on special needs students and orphans. However, even this limited information is not easily accessible across education subsectors.
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