February 13, 2014 - Acting as representative of the national government, Roza Otunbayeva met with heads of educational institutions, local authorities, and high altitude pasture committees in Osh. During the meetings, Ms. Otunbayeva and the others discussed the quality of school food and community-based preschools in high altitude pasturelands. The former President described seeing a lot of mansions and expensive cars as she travelled the South. “Income is improving, but we are lagging behind in spiritual nourishment. Young people need to be educated in both modern science and spirituality,” she said. Further, she noted that despite how important preschools are to the physical and intellectual growth of children, only 15% of Kyrgyzstani children have access to preschools. “I recently visited Jalal-Abad and Batken. Locals in both places asked for more preschools. Unfortunately, to do so would require more funds than are currently available. Meanwhile, we should focus on organizing two shifts at existing preschools, where children could be taught for two or three hours without food. In this way we could jumpstart our children’s early development with reading, writing, poetry and drawing,”