Starting Jan. 1, 2016, basic registration forms at urban outpatient centres will become fully electronic throughout Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Health and Social Development has stated. According to the ministry, the transition does not require additional finances, but requires funding for healthcare organisations with computers. By April 1, all public health institutions that provide primary healthcare had cancelled their paper forms.
This year, two schools for 1,150 children will be built in Astana using funds from the national budget, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Berdibek Saparbayev said at a March 31 meeting titled Astana’s Brand: Resident Welfare. According to the deputy prime minister, currently, the country has 99 schools in emergency conditions and 136 three-shift schools, the country is short15,419 spaces and Astana has one emergency and a pair of three shift schools. “From 2015 to 2020, a gradual transition to a 12-year education curriculum that includes pre-primary education will be implemented. This will not increase the total duration of basic education and financial costs,” he concluded.
As part of a memorandum signed on March 31 between the akimat (city administration) of Astana and the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Kazakhstan, 22 vehicles will be purchased to provide medical care, Minister of Health and Social Development of Kazakhstan Tamara Duyssenova said at a March 31 meeting titled Astana’s Brand: Resident Welfare. “The memorandum authorises the purchase of 22 sanitary transport vehicles using municipal funds and 33 units in 2016 using national funds,” Duyssenova explained. During the meeting, the akimat and the ministry signed two memoranda. The first document provides for the productive employment and strengthens targeted social protection services and support for the capital’s population. The second memorandum is aimed at improving the health of people in the capital.
In order to solve the issues of three shift and emergency schools in Kazakhstan, between 2015 and 2017, 73 educational facilities will be built, Vice Minister of Education and Science Yessengazy Imangaliyev said at a March 26 media briefing at the Central Communications Services (CCS). According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, 61.9 billion tenge (US$333.37 million) was set aside for building schools between 2015 and 2017. Of this money, 14.3 billion tenge (US$77 million) will be used in 2015, 23 billion tenge (US$123.87 million) in 2016 and 24.5 billion tenge (US$131.89 million) in 2017. Three schools will be built in the Aktyube region, 26 in the Almaty region, one in Atyrau, five in the East Kazakhstan region, four in Zhambyl, two in Karaganda, two in Kyzylorda, one in the Mangistau region, two in the North Kazakhstan region and 23 in South Kazakhstan, the most populous in the country. It is also planned to build two schools in Almaty and two in Astana. The vice-minister also said that 44 schools will be built by the national government and 118 will be built by municipalities.
First grade pupils will have classes five days a week, as opposed to a six day per week schedule prevalent up to now. This educational regimen will be first used in 30 schools in 2015 and 2016, Director of the Department of Preschool and Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education and Science Zhanyl Zhontayeva said on March 26. “Now, we are working on reducing the number of school subjects in 30 schools for the first grade, as well as introducing a schedule of five school days per week for first graders,” Zhontayeva said. She said that the pilot programme will be implemented in 30 schools in the 2015-2016 school year. According to Zhontayeva, the principles of the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, which use five-day schedules, will be used in Kazakhstan’s preschools.
