Kazakhstan Built Far Fewer Schools Than Planned Under National Project

Kazakhstan’s Comfortable School national project was cut almost in half during implementation, Orda.kz reports.

The original plan was to build 401 schools and create 842,000 student places. The final target was reduced to 217 schools and 460,000 places. The Ministry of Education explained the reduction by budget optimization.

Senator Andrey Lukin raised the issue, noting that the project was fully financed from the National Fund, with 1.49 trillion tenge allocated. By the end of 2025, only 198 schools had been commissioned.

Lukin also pointed to major differences in construction costs for schools with the same capacity.

At the same time, the shortage of student places in day schools decreased by only 7.6%. The audit revealed serious price deviations, when the cost of building schools of the same capacity in similar seismic conditions differed sharply. For example, a 300-seat school in the village of Experimental Field in East Kazakhstan Region cost the budget 4.7 billion tenge, while a similar school in the village of Pugachevo in West Kazakhstan Region cost 3 billion tenge. The difference is 1.6 billion tenge,he said.

The audit also found that some new schools were not fully loaded. According to Lukin, of 75 checked facilities, one school was only 29% full, eight were 30–50% full, and another 16 were 50–70% full.

Acting Education Minister Zhaiyk Sharabasov said the national project had been adjusted twice because of budget optimization.

Last year, the Comfortable School national project was completed. It was aimed at solving the problems of three-shift and emergency schools, as well as reducing the shortage of student places. Due to budget optimization, the project was changed twice, reducing the number of schools to 217 for 460,000 student places,Sharabasov said.

According to him, all 217 schools were built, but not all had completed the required paperwork.

By the end of last year, all 217 schools had been built. Commissioning certificates were received for 198 schools. To date, 215 schools have received such certificates. By the end of this month, we expect to receive certificates for the remaining two schools,the acting minister said.

Sharabasov explained the cost difference by seismic conditions and the features of the construction site in East Kazakhstan Region.

In the village of Experimental Field, the district has a seismic rating of seven points, so the relevant adjustment coefficient is applied. In West Kazakhstan Region, the seismic rating is six points, and the coefficient is not applied. Different design solutions are used because of seismic conditions,he said.

According to Sharabasov, the school site in Experimental Field is located on a slope, so additional work was needed to level the ground and build retaining walls.

He said the project helped resolve problems at 52 three-shift schools and 12 emergency schools. Some facilities in large cities and agglomerations were built in advance, taking into account future housing development and migration growth.

Original author: Ilya Astakhov

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