All subjects in high school should be taught in English: Nazarbayev

English should be made the prime language of instruction in Kazakhstan's high schools, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during a meeting with representatives of the women's community of Kazakhstan held in Akorda on the eve of the International Women's Day, Tengrinews reports.

“We are making sure that children study English starting from the first grade. And in 11-12 grades, all subjects must be taught in English,” Nazarbayev said.

The president cited Malaysia as an example: “When they gained independence after the war, the Malaysian language became the state language. But no one around the world knows it. Then, they again came back to English. The same is in Singapore. This has nothing to do with what we live or dislike. Everyone speaks this language (English), the entire Internet space and all the information technologies (are in English). We need to teach children to be trilingual,” he said.

“Our state language is Kazakh, we should preserve it. We should all study this language. Russian is the language of our integration,” the President added.

Reporting by Altynai Zhumzhumina, writing by Assel Satubaldina, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina