“In addition to professional music or choreography education, these education facilities also provide children with good secondary education. The schools have boarding facilities where students live during their studies. The problem is that enrollment in these schools requires that children’s parents or other relatives submit documents. The teachers cannot travel around the country looking for promising children, as it costs money, but the government doesn’t finance such costs. Our project offers a solution to this problem, enabling the teachers to visit all the orphanages in the country and make auditions,” Janat said.

She noted that the project will be implemented with the support of her group supervisor, Aigul Abduvalieva, head of the Civic Engagement Center: “Aigul Meimanovna provided trumendous support from the very beginning. We won this contest mainly thanks to her efforts.”

The Open Society University Network (OSUN) micro-grant contest was organized by the Civic Engagement Centers of Bard College (New York, USA) and the American University of Central Asia. This contest engaged both AUCA and TSI students. Only five out of the many submitted contest applications were selected by the jury for implementation.

 “The micro-grant program is aimed at supporting the implementation of student developed to improve the lives of local communities. The AUCA Civic Engagement Center and our partners at Bard College congratulate Janat, the first scholarship recipient from the Technical School of Innovation, and wish her success in implementing her significant and meaningful project. I want to emphasize that Janat was the only participant in the contest under 18,” commented Nurjamal Karamoldoeva, head of the AUCA Civic Engagement Center, on the contest results.