1. >> Get Online Week: Kyrgyzstan
February 28 — March 5, 2011 <<
Global Connections & Exchange | Digital Youth Dialogue
GCE is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. DYD is a program of the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan

2. www.irex.org
Students from Jalal-Abad region’s Bok-
Youth in Kyrgyzstan Bring onbaev School lead training sessions for
182 Offline Citizens Online their parents and grandparents
During “Get Online Week” Six students at Naryn’s School No. 8
help 30 parents get online and learn
about key computer programs
Recently, the Global Connections & Ex-
Batken’s Uch-Korgon School hosts train-
change (GCE) and Digital Youth Dia- ing series for eight parents on internet
skills and finding news online
logue (DYD) programs participated in
Osh’s Parpiev School invites five par-
“Get Online Week,” held between Feb- ents to computer training led by the IT
teacher and two students
ruary 28th and March 5th. “Get Online
Tech Age Girl Feruza Kasymova and
Week” is a campaign organized by student Azamat Begaliev train five par-
ents in Batken
Telecentre Europe to get new computer
A TAG alum leads students at Tok-
togul’s Bokonbaev school in training six
users online. This year, 112,074 people adults on internet and computer basics
were involved in the campaign and the Two Nanaev school students in Talas
conduct computer and internet training
GCE and DYD programs contributed to for four parents
this figure by brining 182 citizens Six unemployed Alay residents take
part in computer trainings offered at
Alay Central Library
online. Three libraries and 19 schools
throughout Kyrgyzstan took part in Nine unemployed youth receive
computer training at Jalal-Abad’s
public library to help them compete
“Get Online Week” and organized
Kyzyl-Kiya Library holds a four-day
computer training sessions for parents, computer training for nine unemployed
and three disabled youth
grandparents and unemployed youth.
2

3. www.irex.org
Bokonbaev School, Jalal-Abad Naryn School No. 8
Students from Jalal-Abad region’s Bokonbaev Thirty parents and grandparents from Naryn’s
School led trainings for their parents and grand- School No. 8 learned how to use internet, MS
parents during which trainees learned about Word, MS Excel, Picasa and email with the help
email and opened their own email accounts. of six students. Trainees learned how to search
Sabira Turdalieva, a retired trainee, emailed for information on the internet and discovered
her son who currently works in Dubai. Her son news sites such as: www.akipress.kg and
Nurkalyi immediately responded to her email www.azattyk.kg.
and was very surprised to see an email from his
mother.
Youth in Naryn assisted 30 adults of all
ages connect to the internet for the
first time during “Get Online Week”
“Because of today’s training, I was able to find
Jalal-Abad students training community
parents and grandparents in opening email good recipes for salads using Google and was
accounts and connecting to the internet able to write e-mail to my grandchildren who
work in Russia. Now I am interested in using
On March 3, ten trainees observed a Skype the internet,” remarked grandparent Cholpon
video call between Bokonbaev School and Alai Nurseitova. Another trainee and a pensioner
School located in Osh region. The trainees were Kenje Andakulova said, “Because of this train-
really impressed and excited to see how tech- ing I decided to buy computer for my grandson.
nology can be used the ways it can overcome Now, I can understand why [young people] like
geographic barriers. Kalicha Toktosunova, a technology. It will be a good chance to improve
trainee whose daughter is studying in the his knowledge.”
United States said: “This is such a great oppor-
tunity! Next time I want to open my own Skype
account and I want to talk to my daughter.” Uch-Korgon School, Batken
After this experience, the students decided not
to continue providing trainings to older genera- Batken region’s Uch-Korgon School hosted train-
tion and pass their knowledge to them. ing series for eight parents during which train-
3

4. www.irex.org
ees learned how to use the internet, read news
from various sites such as www.azattyk.kg and Parpiev School, Osh
www.24.kg, and some learned how to work in
Microsoft Word and Paint programs. Parpiev School No. 84, located in Osh, invited
five parents to attend free computer trainings
One parent, Rasul Murzaliev, owns a garden of offered during “Get Online Week” by teacher
cherry trees and he used his new skills to search Rovshan Abakulov and two of his students. Par-
for the tips on taking care of cherry trees as ents attending trainings for seven hours during
they are the main source of income for many that week learned about computer and internet
residents of Uch Korgon village. Similarly, Mu- basics as well as key boarding programs to help
kaddam Davlatova has a business raising chicken them improve their typing speed. Trainees were
at home and selling their eggs. She used inter- surprised how much they were able to learn in
net to find out more information and best prac- such a short period and shared their desire to
tices in developing her business as well as tips come back to the school’s computer lab in or-
on taking care of chickens and illness preven- der to gain additional knowledge.
tion. Hoshim Ergashev was very glad that he
learned how to find and read international and
national news on the internet as his only source
of news had been TV. He found it interesting to
read analytical articles about political develop-
ments in Kyrgyzstan.
Parents of students at Par-
piev School in Shark Village
attend a “Get Online Week”
training
“I’ve learned so many things, like creating
documents in MS Word…. The most impressive
Students in Batken trained adults on
accessing news from the internet, and oper-
thing is that now I know how to search for in-
ating Microsoft Office Suite teresting facts or information in the internet…
It would be good if you organized [more] IT
trainings [in the future,]” remarked trainee
Umida Unusova.
4

5. www.irex.org
Gagarin School, Batken Bokonbaev School, Toktogul
Tech Age Girl alumna Feruza Kasymova and 8th Tech Age Girls project alumna Nurjan Turduma-
grade student Azamat Begaliev trained five par- tova and 11th grade student Aitbbubu Zakirova
ents at the Gagarin School in Batken. The stu- conducted internet and computer basics train-
dents organized the training based on what par- ing for the six parents and grandparents of stu-
ticipants wanted to learn. dents at Bokonbaev School. The training was
offered based on the needs of participants.
Tamara Amirakulova and Jannatai Maripova
wanted to learn how to work with and edit text Turat Kochkorov a 40 year old parent and Taalai
in Microsoft Word; Nargiza Halmatova, Sayakat Saipbaev a 45 year old parent, both unem-
Kadyrova, and Koisunai Sharipova already knew ployed, learned how to open email accounts.
some basic computer programs and they were Both had resumes, but they were not on a com-
able to open their own email accounts. All of puter. During the training they learned how to
the trainees learned about news websites avail- create an electronic version of the resumes and
able in Kyrgyzstan and how to look for informa- were then able to submit them in response to a
tion on the internet. vacancy at the Megacom Cell Phone Company.
Talgat Subanaliev teaches his mother internet skills
At Gagarin school in Batken, students held a training at Bokonbaev School, in Toktogul
for parents on internet news, Microsoft Word, Excel,
and other productivity applications
Aitkan Atakulova, a pensioner who is interested
“I am happy that I participated in this training in gardening and agriculture, learned how to
as I know how important it is to learn modern use search engines to find information on grow-
technology now… I plan to improve my com- ing indoor and outdoor plants, and instructions
puter skills,” said trainee Nargiza Halmatova. for the care of cucumbers and potatoes.
5

6. www.irex.org
“I heard a lot about the internet but I didn’t Julduz Sydykova, one of the trainees remarked;
realize its enormous benefits until I used it for “The most important thing that you can learn
the first time myself today. I am happy that my at any age is how to use a computer…. Now we
daughter studies at Bokonbaev School, because know how useful computers are.”
it has free internet access. I am proud of our
children teaching us what we couldn’t learn Following the training, Asan kyzy and Kurman-
when we were in school…” remarked Aitkan bek kyzy created short videos about this event.
Atakulova. One of the videos can be seen at
http://youtu.be/uEaoN4BMaaE.
Nanaev School, Talas Alay Central Library
TAG alumna Symbat Asan kyzy and 10th grade Six unemployed Alay residents took part in com-
student Adash Kurmanbek kyzy conducted com- puter trainings offered at Alay Central Library.
puter and internet training for four parents at Gulmeyiz Masabirova hasn’t been able to find a
the Nanaev School, Aral village, Talas region. job since graduating from university. During
For all four women, this was their first time us- trainings at her local library she learned com-
ing the internet. puter basics and more importantly about web-
sites like www.rabota.kg and www.zarplata.kg,
where jobs are advertised.
Adash Kurmanbek kyzy trains Talas parent Gulaium
Samturova on Power Point, Microsoft Word, Picasa,
Excel, Movie Maker and internet resources
The participants were happy to discover Alay librarian Uulkan Kaldibaeva is trains unem-
www.akipress.kg, a Kyrgyzstan-based news site, ployed attendees to use Microsoft Word
and spent some time increasing their awareness
of their country’s political and social life. In In addition, trainees were introduced to Skype,
addition to internet basics, they learned how to and since all of them had relatives working out-
create Power Point Presentations and use Micro- side of Kyrgyzstan, they were glad to learn that
soft word. they now have the opportunity to communicate
with them via emails and Skype.
6

7. www.irex.org
Jalal-Abad Library “I took computer courses while studying at the
university but had few opportunities to prac-
Nine unemployed youth were able to receive tice. The training this week gave me real tools
instrumental skills that would make them more which I will improve further on, and I believe I
valuable in the job market at the Jalal-Abad can find a job after discovering job-seeking
Library. websites,” shared trainee Aichurek Karataeva.
Kyzyl-Kiya Library
Kyzyl-Kiya’s Library conducted a four-day train-
ing on computing for nine unemployed and
three handicapped youth. In During the training
they learned how to open e-mail accounts, and
registered on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
Skype to stay in touch.
At the Jalal-Abad Library, 15 unemployed youth
learned how to hunt for jobs online and how to create
electronic resumes
Aiperi Mirzalieva never had an email account,
but thanks to the training she now has one and
knows how to use it. Guljamal Moltoeva is an
unemployed but recent graduate with econom-
ics degree who realized that without computer Attendees learned computing basics and how to
knowledge it is even harder to find a job. The apply for jobs online
training offered at the library helped her learn
about websites where most of the jobs in Kyr- One of the trainees, Nazira Mamadjanova, an
gyzstan are advertised. unemployed accountant learned about online
job postings in Kyrgyzstan, and Dilbar Rahman-
She even called one of the employers that had berdieva learned how to create an electronic
posted a vacancy on www.rabota.kg, a job site resume, and now plans to apply for jobs online.
in Kyrgyzstan, and was able to get detailed in- Umid Halbaev is a graduate from Kyzyl-Kiya
formation about the position. As a result of the Pedagogical Institute with a degree of Social
training, participants learned how to create a Worker was interested in learning about various
resume and prepared electronic versions of social networks such as Facebook to make
their resumes. friends and connections online.
7