One convict costs four times more than child in kindergarten in Kazakhstan

The expenditures for keeping a convict in prison are four times higher than the expenditures for a child attending a kindergarten, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Dariga Nazarbayeva, deputy of еру Majilis (Lower Chamber of the Parliament.) “Our study showed that expenditures for one schoolchild’s tuition amounts to 150 000 – 180 000 tenge ($1013-1216) a year and the expenditures for one child attending a kindergarten – 180 000 tenge ($1216) a year. Meanwhile keeping of one convict in prison costs the state $4729. The difference is quite measurable,” Nazarbayeva said. According to Dariga Nazarbayeva, it is expected that Balapan program will cover 70% of the population with preschool education by 2015. 325 274 children were queued for kindergartens in 2012. The Ministry of Science and Education is planning to construct 140 new kindergartens totally worth 55.8 billion tenge ($377 million) in 2013-2015. But the Ministry of Finance initially backed the construction of only 48 kindergartens totally worth 22 billion tenge ($148 million). Meanwhile 121 new kindergartens will be constructed as part of Balapan program by 2015. Nazarbayeva also said that construction of additional 19 kindergartens was supported by the Ministry after the the bille got to the Majilis (lower house of Parliament.) The Balapan program is the state program aimed at providing children with preschool education in Kazakhstan. By Renat Tashkinbayev