On 2 September the Turkmen school named after Magtymguly Pyragy was opened in the village of Funtovo near Astrakhan.
According to TASS, about 2,3 thousand Turkmens reside in Astrakhan region with the majority of them based in Funtovo. The previous school was acknowledged to be unsafe and dilapidated and students were transferred to other schools in the neghbouring villages.
The school principal Zalina Abdrakhmanova was quoted as saying that 164 students from the 1st to the 7the grade were enrolled into the school, which is designed to accommodated 190 students.
At the opening day the video conference with students from the Russian school named after Pushkin in Ashgabat was organized.
“The event brought together an official of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Education, the Russian Federal Deputy Minister of Education P.S. Zenkovich, acting governor of Astrakhan region I.Y. Babushkin and others”, Turkmenistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry reports.
It should be emphasized that the school opening ceremony was held in Funtovo in May 2017.
However, there was no student enrolment in September of the same year.The news outlet “Fergana” found out from one of Astrakhan forums that the reason behind was construction flaws and the refusal to sign work completion and acceptance certificate.
It had been originally reported that the school was designed to accommodate 350 students and later the number was reduced to 240.
The educational establishment was scheduled to be opened in September 2017.