Frequent Textbook Revisions Drain 16 Billion Tenge from Kazakhstan’s Budget

The Supreme Audit Chamber has completed an inspection of the education sector, Orda.kz reports.

According to the audit, government spending on secondary education has more than tripled in the past five years, rising from 1.3 trillion tenge in 2019 to 4.8 trillion tenge in 2024. However, this increase has been accompanied by financial losses.

Auditors found that educational reforms were implemented inconsistently, with frequent revisions to school textbooks contributing to significant economic losses.

Over the past five years, losses due to textbook revisions have exceeded 16 billion tenge, the audit states.

During the same period, Kazakhstan also changed its criteria for assessing school benefits 12 times.

Additionally, the audit uncovered:

• 1.1 billion tenge in financial violations
• Poor planning of funds and resources of 62.4 billion tenge
• Inefficient use of funds of 3.2 billion tenge

There were also discrepancies in the state order for teacher training programs.

The Ministry of Labor’s forecasts for teacher demand did not align with actual school needs, which auditors attribute to flaws in methodology and calculation errors.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin