Beyond political and military alliances and strategies, Kazakhstan aims to be an important cultural and professional training hub for the whole of Central Asia, working in this sector with great support from Russia.
Astana (AsiaNews) – The Russian ‘polit-technologist’ Aleksej Babočkin, an expert at the Moscow ‘Royal Policy Fund’, has written an important article in Nezavisimaja Gazeta about relations between Russia and Kazakhstan, one of the most important nodes for future Eurasian balances. In the geopolitical space disrupted by the war in Ukraine that has lasted for more than a thousand days, and with so many changes taking place at all latitudes, Kazakhstan nevertheless remains one of Russia’s most important strategic partners, if only because of its large geographical dimension contingent on Russia in the centre of Asia.
In the frequent meetings between representatives of the two countries, from presidents to officials in many specific fields, the emphasis is continually placed on economic achievements and mutual enrichment on a cultural and social level. Among the most important aspects are education and scientific research, the exploitation of human capital, and considerations of common history, seeking to fully understand ‘the value orientations of one’s neighbour, in order to determine the vectors for the development of dialogue,’ Babočkin notes.
Over the past five years, Kazakhstan has invested heavily in education, increasing its budget expenditure by 2.5 times. It is no longer a matter of isolated, elitist projects as in the past (schools and universities for ‘the chosen ones’), but impressive means for education at all levels and the dissemination of scientific achievements.
In 2023-2024 alone, some 190,000 university study places have been added, and there are plans to open 369 schools for a further 740,000 places by 2025, and 163 of these will be built in rural countries.
The digital infrastructure, thanks to which pupils can have access to the most advanced educational technologies, is becoming more and more widespread, even from the most peripheral places in the country.
As the political scientist documents, Russia is making an important contribution to Kazakhstan’s new ‘knowledge ecosystem’. During last year’s meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Kasym-Žomart Tokaev, a decision was made to build three Russian schools in the south of the country at the expense of the Russian budget, in the Turkestan, Kyzyl-Ordin and Žambyl regions where there is a serious shortage of educational institutions.
As Education Minister Gani Bejsembaev noted at the time, ‘Kazakhstan is a multilingual country’, and Russian schools help competitiveness among Kazakh students.
It also seeks to raise the prestige of the teaching profession, understanding that new technologies and more comfortable school facilities are of no use without qualified pedagogical cadres.
Therefore, the law ‘On the status of the pedagogue’ was approved in recent months, for the defence of the rights and legitimate interests of teachers, with a system of social guarantees and the alleviation of the social and bureaucratic functions that burden the teaching profession.
Today in Kazakhstan there are 600,000 teachers in the various institutions, 400,000 of whom are in compulsory schools, and the state is interested in their further development and lifelong learning.
Equally important, he notes, is the focus on the ‘cult of work and its social importance’, as President Tokaev often emphasises. Under the conditions of rapid social change worldwide, where technologies are playing an increasingly decisive role, Kazakhstan is trying to organise a ‘nation of technocrats’, and 2025 will be the country’s ‘Year of Working Professions’.
Here, too, we start with the education system, to develop technical and analytical knowledge in order to work more effectively in the various sectors of the economy. Scholarships for more advanced vocational training are increasing, and branches of Russia’s most important technical institutes are being opened in all regions, such as the Russian State University ‘I.M. Gubkin’ for oil and gas in Atyrau, or the chemical-technological university ‘D.I. Mendeleev’ in Taraz, and others are planned to open soon.
Beyond political and military alliances and strategies, Kazakhstan sees itself as an important cultural and professional higher education hub for the whole of Central Asia, working in this sector with great support from Russia.
Photo: Flickr / Aliaskarov Danial
