Nurmukhamad Turkbaev

Nurmukhamad Turkbaev

Kyrgyzstan

“I call myself a multinational person. I grew up on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Because of this, I speak six languages, mostly Central Asian, but also some Western languages. Education is the main tool for personal and community advancement. And while the region I grew up in is rich in cultures, education is underdeveloped. According to a 2017 Report by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), UNICEF KG declared that more than 50% of students in Kyrgyzstan don’t reach basic proficiency in reading, math, or science. Thus, to help raise the level of education in my country, I started taking action, building education in the southern rural parts of Kyrgyzstan through training in debate with children. We often had a shortage of water and electricity in winter. I had to learn English and Russian by myself. After that I started doing after-school English courses in Tajikistan, having to cross the border every day. Through these hardships and through the privilege of education, I gained precious leadership skills that helped me act as an English ‘moderator’ at school.
Thus, I have found a project called Central Asian Nomad Youth (November 2018-present). We have chosen three major problems and are trying to solve them:
Lack of education/ Improving educational and business sectors in Southern Kyrgyzstan (SDG’4)
Conflict Resolution- eliminating ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik people on border areas. (SDG’16)
Early marriage and gender inequality in peripheral regions of Kyrgyzstan (SDG’5)”