'Be more patient with foreign students who bring prestige to Kyrgyzstan'
![appeal to kyrgyz people for patience appeal to kyrgyz people for patience](https://tds-images.thedailystar.net/sites/default/files/styles/big_202/public/media/api_images/2024/05/20/Krygyzstan.jpg)
Kyrgyzstan State Medical Academy (KSMA) Rector Indira Kudaibergenova has appealed the Kyrgyz people to be more attentive and patient to the foreign students who bring prestige to the Central Asian country.
The appeal came after mob attacks on the international medical students including Bangladeshis, Indians, and Pakistanis following a brawl between some Egyptian students and locals on May 13 -- a video of which has gone viral.
According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health, 41 victims sought medical help as a result of the mass brawl with foreigners in Bishkek since May 17.
Pakistan already flew home several hundred students and other students are also planning so though the situation has now become stable, but students mostly remained indoors since May 17.
There are around 60,000 international medical students including 1,000 Bangladeshis and more than 30,000 Indians and Pakistanis. Easy admission procedures, low cost, and quality medical education attract the foreign students to study in that country, students said.
At a press conference today, Indira Kudaibergenova, said arrival of foreign students in the Kyrgyzstan is prestige for the country, reported Kyrgyz news portal www.24.kg.
According to her, educational tourism shows the high level of domestic teachers, and this means that they can teach medicine to the students of other states -- something that should be welcomed.
"Students came here to study, they are not engaged in any politics, they only receive knowledge," Indira Kudaibergenova said.
She emphasised that it is very difficult to obtain a medical education; one needs to study almost day and night.
"Foreign students bring a lot of dividends; they are our investors. Only 20 percent of the budget at the Medical Academy is formed by the state, the remaining 80 by foreign students.
"With these funds we build, purchase new equipment so that local students receive a good education," the rector said.
According to her, foreign students live the same life as the Kyrgyz do.
"These are also someone's children, only from Pakistan, India, China and so on. I appeal to all the people of Kyrgyzstan -- please be more attentive and patient. Maybe there are mistakes on the part of our students. Perhaps they may respond rudely. But already in the first year they all speak Kyrgyz, and in the third year they speak Kyrgyz, Russian and English.
"I would not like students from other countries to leave. The Kyrgyz have never been wicked but have always been kind and sympathetic. Our children are also abroad. And imagine if they are treated poorly," Indira Kudaibergenova said.
Comments