Qatar and UAE to build two schools in Astana

Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE) will fund construction of two schools in Astana, Tengrinews reports citing the head of the Education Department of Astana Elmira Suhanberdiyeva.

“The two schools will be constructed based on inter-state agreements,” Elmira Suhanberdiyeva said.

The projects are now at the stage of feasibility study. “Qatar will build a school for 1200 children. And a company from UAE will build a Nazarbayev Intellectual School for 800 children. The provisional cost of the second school is $12.1 million," she said, adding that designs of both schools will include national elements.

Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools project is a nationwide initiative called to provide gifted children with access to top class education. 

These two schools will help reduce the deficit of schools in Astana that because especially sharp 2 years ago. 

“Miigration of the population is the main cause of the deficit. Annually around five thousand school-aged children move to Astana with their parents. As a result, 5 of the city's schools are working in three shifts. These are public schools number 65, 57, 59, 37 and 8. This year, 9 now schools will be commissioned,” Elmira Suhanberdiyeva said.

Crowded three shift shools cannot offer well-timed studies to children and Kazakhstan is focusing on building enough schools in Astana so that they can teach children in one or two shifts. In January 2014, President Nazarbayev instructed the government to solve the problem of school deficit until 2017.

There are now 84 schools in Astana, 72 of them are public schools, according to the Department of Education of Astana. 94,712 children study in Astana schools. 5,773 children will be transferred to the new schools.

Reporting by Baubek Konyrov