Medербек Tagaybek uulu, the head of the driving school "Driver Training Center," was detained and is now in custody for a month. This became known from sources in the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek, where a hearing on the case took place on January 30.
Against Tagaybek uulu, the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case under part 3 of Article 278 of the Criminal Code, concerning active disobedience to lawful demands of authorities and calls for violence. So far, there have been no official comments from the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the detention.
This incident occurred against the backdrop of significant reforms in the field of driver training. Since the beginning of this year, the Presidential Administration has implemented new rules for training and issuing driver's licenses, according to which training will be conducted exclusively in state driving schools.
According to the heads of private driving schools, since January 23, their operations have been effectively suspended. They claim that access to the unified database necessary for the functioning of their schools was closed by the State Center for Registration of Vehicles and Drivers.
On January 27, representatives of private driving schools, including Tagaybek uulu, came to a state institution to seek clarification on the situation and expressed their dissatisfaction with the actions of officials in interviews with the media.
This situation has caused a wide public outcry, and at the meeting of the Jogorku Kenesh on January 28, several deputies raised the issue of the need to create a special commission to analyze the consequences of the new reforms.
Among the measures taken is an updated training program. Now, to obtain a category B driver's license, 480 hours of training is required, which corresponds to ten months, and for categories B and C — twelve months.
On January 30, President Sadyr Japarov signed a decree suspending licenses for private driving schools, which became official confirmation of the changes that occurred in this area.
In an interview with the "Kabar" agency, the president explained his actions:
— Many private driving schools do not strive for quality driver training; their main goal is profit. Citizens simply submitted documents, and after some time received a certificate of completion, then went to "Unaa" and often received licenses without exams.
There was a corrupt scheme with the state enterprise "Unaa," responsible for issuing driver's licenses.
As you know, failures in both theoretical and practical exams were rare — licenses were easily obtained thanks to bribes.
But now, with the introduction of strict control at the state enterprise "Unaa," graduates of private driving schools are beginning to fail exams repeatedly. There are cases where citizens took exams 10–15 times and still did not pass. Why is this happening? Because they were not given sufficient knowledge, and no one was interested in the quality of education. The main concern for private driving schools is the number of clients.
Today, among the youth, there are many people who have driver's licenses but do not know how to drive, and they say: "I will buy a car — I will learn."
— Can the increase in the number of traffic accidents be linked to this problem?
— There are many reasons, and they can be unexpected. However, one of the main reasons is the low level of requirements for driver training.
In Kyrgyzstan, more than 900 people die annually as a result of traffic accidents, and in some years this figure exceeds a thousand. This is a real tragedy. Even in wartime, we do not lose so many people, and we lose hundreds of lives due to traffic accidents.
Corruption in the driver training system, the purchase of licenses, poor-quality training, and irresponsible attitudes are key factors in the increase in accidents. We must honestly acknowledge these facts.
— What are the advantages of state driving schools?
— State driving schools have created all the necessary conditions. Here, there will be modern equipment, updated technology, and qualified specialists. We develop the training materials ourselves. Training will include not only driving a car but also understanding its structure, technical fundamentals, traffic rules, and, most importantly, road behavior culture.
Here, human life is the top priority, and the safety of citizens is the main priority for the state.
— Owners of private driving schools express dissatisfaction and talk about closing their businesses. How do you respond to this?
— We warned them in advance. We notified them that the licenses of private driving schools would be terminated after 2026 and that this area needed reform. Nevertheless, most continued to operate under the old scheme, aiming to "train" and issue certificates in a short time. This brought them significant profit, but the responsibility for the quality of driver training took a back seat.
We cannot ignore such irresponsible behavior. However, we will not leave specialists who worked in private driving schools without jobs — we will accept them into state driving schools.
