On September 21-22, 2020, the staff of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek D. Prudtskikh and M. Osmonov held meetings at school No. 4 named after Y. A. Gagarin in Mailuu-Suu and at schools named after Y. A. Gagarin and V. I. Lenin in the village of Shekaftar, Jalal-Abad region. The meeting was attended by directors, head teachers, volunteer school teachers responsible for the Green Patrols team, artist Jose Rafael Vargas-Suarez, employees of the Aarhus Center in Osh, heads of the OECC of Mailuu-Suu and Shekaftar village.

During the meetings in schools, the Environmental Consultant D. Prudtskikh informed the participants that social grant programs of UNDP were planned. That the OSCE also works with young people within the framework of its programs, it is necessary to introduce the program of the School of Environmental Leadership, work on creating a green class, and conduct practical exercises. For example, they can measure the background radiation with children, organize various competitions in schools and trainings on radiation safety, work on the creation of a telegram channel. Also discussed were the equipment of classrooms and schools. In the end, he thanked the teacher of biology of the school No. 4 named after Yu. A. Gagarin in Mailuu-Suu Mingazova R. for the class hour spent on the protection of the Ozone layer with the participation of members of the Green Patrols team.

On September 21, 2020, representatives of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek held a meeting in Mailuu-Suu to create a museum of the nuclear industry with the participation of the Deputy Director for Academic Affairs of the Mailuu-Suu Medical College, historian A. Travkina, artist Jose Rafael vargas-Suarez, staff Tailings Management Agency, Aarhus Center in Osh and the Head of the OEIC of Mailuu-Suu.

At the meeting, A. Travkina spoke about how people mined uranium and under what conditions, how they lived at the time, who they were, how they built the city, what factories and factories existed. The participants discussed the issues of creating a museum and asked her to help in this project.

On September 22, 2020, the staff of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek held a meeting at the LOI LLC in the village of Shekaftar. The meeting was attended by representatives of VIZUTEK, LLC “LOI”, the Jalal-Abad territorial administration of the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry, the Interregional Department of the State Inspection for Environmental and Technical Safety in Aksy, Ala-Buka and Chatkal Districts, the Agency for the Management of Tailings , Aarhus Center in the city of Osh and the head of the OEIC of the village of Shekaftar.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the problems of public awareness. D. Prudtskikh said in his speech that it is necessary to carry out explanatory work among the population, to distribute objective information to them. The representative of the AXO EMERCOM noted the need for joint work with LLC LOI and OEITS Shekaftar to disseminate information among stakeholders and the population. They were also asked to provide information on reclamation work at the uranium production facilities at the session of the aiyl kenesh deputies. The representative of ZHTUOS proposed to include representatives of the local population in the commission when monitoring reclamation works. B. Botobekov briefly informed the participants of the meeting about the work done by the OEIC within the framework of the project “Involvement of stakeholders in solving problems related to uranium waste in Central Asia”.

The meeting participants got acquainted with the state of information boards and updating of information materials.

At the end of the meeting, the OSCE representative announced that a competition for small grants from UNDP would be announced and trainings on radiation safety would be organized in Shekaftar village.

Public relations specialist,

T. Zhumabekov