$3.15 billion to develop education to 2015

Kazakhstan plans to earmark KZT 461.1 billion ($ 3.15 billion) to finance development of national education, Profinance.kz quoted Minister of Education Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov as saying. In the current year extra KZT 22.5 billion ($ 154 million) will be allocated out of the state budget to construct schools and raise salaries of teachers. “Pre-school education should cover 100% of children. We have come up with a construction schedule up to 2015. 90 kinder gardens have to be built within the following 3 years; plans are there to construct 615 minor childcare centers and 2163 private kindergartens by 2015”, Minister Zhumagulov said. To construct a total of 522 schools in country’s regions, KZT 167.4 billion ($1.14 million) will be allocated out of the state budget for the following 3 years. This year 82 schools are to be built, according to the Minister.