Turkish-Kyrgyz school for girls strengthens mutual ties

By Nezir Aliyev

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AA) - A Turkish-Kyrgyz vocational high school for girls in Kyrgyzstan is Turkey's first and only school of its kind abroad, according to the school's principal.

Mustafa Yilmaz told Anadolu Agency that the school, in accordance with its purpose of establishment -- strengthening the brotherhood and friendship of the two countries -- successfully educates students for the future.

While the school implements both Turkish and Kyrgyz syllabus, it also provides Russian and English language courses for enabling its students to continue their further education in foreign languages, he said.

"Each year, around 700-800 female students apply to our high school. Due to the quota, we can only accept 50 students," Yilmaz stressed.

Yilmaz said that the school has a capacity of 200 students with 26 teaching staff, compared to 65 students when it was first opened.

He also underlined that during the past 25 years of professional experience, the school had 783 graduates, and that all without exception successfully passed the university entrance exams.

Noting that the school has two garment studios, Yilmaz said recently students successfully arranged a fashion show demonstrating the Ottoman and Turkic world attires, revealing the common culture of the region.

The school was founded in capital Bishkek city in March 1992 -- 75 days after Turkey recognized the independence of Kyrgyzstan -- in a historical building of the Soviet Union era.