Schools to get 500 thousand new computers

Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan will purchase half of a million of up-to-date computers for schools, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Nurgali Arshabekov, head of the Strategic Planning and Information Technologies Department of the Ministry. According to Arshabekov, the Department will purchase 500 thousand new computers every year as part of the e-learning development program. It is planned to cover 50 percent of schools during the first phase of the program (2011-2015). The computer/student ratio will be brought to 10 pupils per 1 computer (now the ratio is 16 pupils per 1 computer). 90 percent of schools are to obtain access to broadband Internet and the e-learning system during the second phase of the program (2016 - 2020). The one-to-one computer/pupil ratio should be reached by 2020. According to the Departments' data 37.3 percent of Kazakhstani schools already have access to broadband Internet. 39.5 billion tenge ($263.3 million) are set aside for 2011-2013 for the program. This major educational step also implies partial transition from printed textbooks to electronic ones. The Education Ministry's motto in this endeavour is: “E-learning for all students always and everywhere”.