Kazakhstan schools will be transfered to 12-year education in 2015-2020

Kazakhstan schools will be resupplied and reequipped by 2015 to enable them to gradually switch to a 12-year education system in 2015-2020, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Makhmetgaly Sarybekov, Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Education and Science. “We will resolve the main issues of material and technical equipment by means of new construction. 100 new schools were built in the last five years as part of the 100 Schools, 100 Hospitals government-run program. And now we are planning to construct 521 more schools in the nearest five years and this will enable us to switch to the 12-year education program,” Sarybekov said on Wednesday. According to the Vice-Minister, the expected time of the transition to the 12-year education system have being repeatedly put off by the government of Kazakhstan because the schools haven’t been properly equipped. For example, 7,5 thousand schools of Kazakhstan are ungraded rural schools with a low level of technical equipment and it was not possible to provide a profession-orientated training for pupils of 11-12 grades with the existing level of equipment. “We will resolve the issues of personnel training, text-books and learning packages supplies, and we will provide the required level of equipment and availability by constructing new schools,” Sarybekov said.