How is the education system changing in Kazakhstan: new schools, teachers' salary increases, and provision of hot meals for students

"It is the duty of the state to create favorable conditions for the education of every child, regardless of their place of residence." Large-scale state programs implemented in recent years contribute to this.

Construction of new schools in the country is proceeding at an unprecedented pace. According to the instructions of the head of state, this year, for the fourth year in a row, about 1,000 rural schools are being modernized. This allows not only to improve learning conditions for children, but also to reduce the gap in the quality of education between urban and rural schools.

In the last three years, the material and technical base of more than 4,000 schools has been updated. More than 2,000 educational institutions have opened modern classrooms for robotics, chemistry, biology, physics and STEM. If we consider only the results of 2024, 1621 subject classrooms were equipped in 967 schools. Work in this direction is still ongoing, by 2029 it is planned to open at least 7,000 modern subject classrooms in schools of the country.

Another important factor in improving the quality of education is the introduction of digital technologies. As part of national initiatives, 100% of school textbooks have been digitized, and access to high-speed Internet has improved significantly in 95.2% of schools. Educational platforms are being introduced, elements of artificial intelligence are being integrated into the educational process. All these measures are aimed at preparing students for the challenges of the future and forming digital skills in them from an early age.

The quality of education is directly related to the level of professionalism of the pedagogical community. In this context, it is necessary to mention the ongoing work on the state's regular support of teachers, increasing their status and material potential. Starting from 2020, the salary of teachers has increased by 2 times, and teachers with qualification categories will be paid overtime for this from 35% to 50% of their official salary. Today, about 300,000 of the 400,000 teachers working in the secondary education system are paid such bonuses.

Special attention is paid to the support of rural teachers, their salaries are at least 25% higher than their counterparts in cities. This contributes to the attraction of qualified personnel to the regions.

From September 2023, according to the order of the President, free hot meals were introduced for all elementary school and socially vulnerable students. More than 192 billion tenge were allocated from local budgets to support 1.7 million students. Also, in order to improve the quality of food, the requirements for kitchen staff have been strengthened, the calculation of free meals recipients has been automated, and daily monitoring has been introduced.

In addition, more than 510,000 socially vulnerable students have been provided with school supplies within the framework of the "Education for Universal" fund.

From 2025, it is planned to introduce social support measures for students of private schools.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/ulytau-karazhal/press/news/details/964874?lang=kk