Overview of Education System

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the state guarantees free education up to the secondary level (Grades 1 to 11 or 12) in public schools for all citizens.³

The main principles of state educational policy are the equal right of all citizens to quality education and access to education at all levels, with consideration for the intellectual development and psychophysiological and individual characteristics of every student.⁴

The Ministry of Education and Science implements unified state educational policy, facilitates cross-sector coordination, and develops and implements state programs in the sphere of education and science.⁵ Public educational institutions are financed from the state budget in accordance with state legislation.

The education system in the Republic of Kazakhstan is based on the principles of consistency and continuity and includes the following levels:

Early childhood education and care—Preschool education is mandatory and is provided at home, by preschool organizations, or in preschool classes of secondary schools, lyceums, and gymnasiums; preschool education provided by public organizations is free of charge
Primary education (Grades 1 to 4)
Basic secondary education (Grades 5 to 9)
General secondary education (Grades 10 to 11)—Technical and professional education
Post-secondary education
Higher education
Postgraduate education

In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Education, the content of primary, basic secondary, and general secondary education is determined by general educational programs, which are based on the State Mandatory Standards of Education (SMSE).⁶ These standards regulate the curriculum, maximum academic workload, and level of preparation of students.

In order to facilitate the full development of gifted individuals’ potential, special academic programs have been developed. There are 115 specialized schools for gifted children, lyceums, and gymnasiums that implement programs for specialized and in-depth education.

In the 2015–2016 academic year, there were 8,834 preschools in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The coverage of children ages 3 to 6 with early childhood education and training amounted to 81.6 percent. Educational services are provided by 7,511 organizations of general secondary education, including 7,160 public and 111 private schools.

Kazakhstan is a country of large territory. Functioning of small schools is guaranteed in localities with small populations. The number of such schools is 3,161 units, or 44.1 percent of secondary schools. In addition, 20 Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools of the Autonomous Educational Organisation have been established.⁷ These schools implement two educational models for students with high intellectual abilities: the Integrated Educational Programme, which has a scientific and mathematical focus, and the International Baccalaureate Programme. The gross enrollment rate in primary education stood at 110.56 percent and secondary at 109.11 percent.

The educational policy of the country is implemented under the State Programme for Education and Science Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2016–2019 (SPESD).⁸ The main priority areas include ensuring equal access of all children and adolescents to the best educational resources and technologies and high quality education to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

SPESD plans include gradual transition to new content of school education. The implementation of curricula and programs based on updated content in accordance with SMSE 2015 began in the 2016–2017 academic year for first grade teachers and students.

Updated educational programs include specific training objectives that describe the skills students need to master at each level, grade, subject, and topic. Features of these programs include an integrated approach to learning, intra-subject communication, a spiral approach to building the training objectives, and inclusion of cross-cutting themes. A distinctive feature of new educational programs is their focus on shaping not only subject knowledge and skills, but also a wide range of additional skills (e.g., functional and creative application of knowledge, critical thinking, research, Information and Communications Technology, the use of different methods of communication, the ability to work in a group and individually, problem solving, decision making).