Teachers in Kazakhstan May Be Freed From Extra Work

Teachers in Kazakhstan may be freed from unnecessary duties,  Orda.kz reports.

Mazhilis deputies approved in the first reading a draft law on the status of teachers. The document is intended to strengthen teachers’ rights and status. Under the proposed changes, teachers’ responsibility would apply only during the educational process. The bill also proposes banning duplicate reporting in both paper and electronic form.

Since 2020, there has been a rule prohibiting the involvement of teachers in work outside their duties. But this mainly applied to schoolteachers, kindergarten teachers and college instructors. We have now resolved this issue in law: this norm will become universal for all teachers in the fields of school, secondary, technical and vocational education.deputy Askhat Aimagambetov said.

He also commented on a loophole that some graduates use to bypass the UNT. They enroll in foreign universities, where the UNT is not required, and then transfer to Kazakh institutions. That loophole has apparently not yet been fully closed, but it will no longer work for teacher-training programs.

Some people become future teachers without meeting the basic requirements. Now we are closing this loophole. From now on, when transferring into a teaching specialty from any foreign university, except for the world’s leading universities, passing the UNT and a special exam will be mandatory.the deputy added.

At the same time, responsibility for children’s life, health and safety is set to expand for parents. The bill also proposes introducing unified rules on the use of mobile phones in schools. Earlier, deputies had already discussed the possibility of banning smartphones in schools.

A separate block of amendments concerns medical education, which is also planned to be modernized. It is also proposed to involve schoolchildren in scientific activities at the level of local executive bodies.

Original author: Ilya Astakhov

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