Almaz, a 13-year-old boy in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, couldn’t wait to see his classmates. His parents, however, were among many in the area who aren’t sure their child would be there when schools reopened on September 1.

“They say we should wait a month and see if other students go,” Almaz says. “I miss my classmates. We used to play together.”

The new school year is supposed to bring anxiety and trepidation for young students. But with wounds still raw from ethnic violence in June that killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands, whole families’ emotions are running high.

“I have 21 friends — both Uzbeks and Kyrgyz,” Almaz says. “I call my friends asking if they are planning to go to school. They say that they don’t know.”

Some have left for Russia, he says. One is in Kyzyl-Kiya, in nearby Batken Province, and will study there. Another “will stay in a village” for his schooling.

“All students are quite afraid of going to school now,” Almaz adds.

Osh, like the rest of the south, is calm on the surface. There have been no recent interethnic clashes or shoot-outs like those seen in Osh and Jalal-Abad provinces in June.

But the ethnic strife is still fresh in the minds of residents of southern Kyrgyzstan, where violence left nearly 400 people dead and forced 400,000 — mainly ethnic Uzbeks — to flee their homes.

more… http://www.rferl.org/content/New_School_Year_Rings_In_Anxiety_In_South_Kyrgyzstan/2144634.html