Minister of Education Gani Beisembayev reported on the ongoing work on the development of rural schools at the Government session.

Today in Kazakhstan, more than half of the nearly 8,000 schools are located in rural areas. 51 per cent of them are small schools. The gap between urban and rural schools is confirmed by the results of international PISA studies. Compared to the results of PISA-2018, the difference in maths and science literacy in 2022 has decreased by 4-5 points, while the reading literacy level has remained the same.

The Minister noted that in order to develop the potential of rural schools in the country, the project ‘Auyl Mektebi - Sapa Alanyi’ is being implemented. Within the framework of it Gani Beisembayev singled out three directions, which are effectively implemented in the regions:

• In 50 schools of Almaty region in 2023-2024 academic year, a project to improve the quality of education in subjects of natural and mathematical direction with the participation of the international public fund ‘Bilim-Innovation’ was implemented.
• In order to improve the quality of education in schools in the Mangystau region, the ‘Otpan’ project was launched in the region in the current academic year, covering 50 schools, including 35 rural schools.
• In Aktobe region, a large-scale project ‘Increasing the potential of rural schools using digital technologies’ was implemented in the 2023-2024 academic year with the support of the Ministry, with the participation of the regional akimat and the public foundation ‘Kazakhstan Khalkyna’. The project covered 12 support and 134 small schools with more than 11,000 students and about 3,500 teachers.

As part of the project, the material and technical base of support schools was completely renewed, and small schools were equipped with subject and digital classrooms. Schools have been provided with high-speed Internet access. School leaders and teachers involved in the project have taken special courses aimed at improving digital competence and professional development.

Four training models were developed taking into account the technical capabilities of small schools. Lessons were observed remotely, students' learning achievements were monitored, and teachers were provided with systematic methodological support.

The Minister noted that the comprehensive work carried out under the project helped to improve the quality of education in small schools. This is confirmed by the results of monitoring conducted in grades 6, 8 and 10.

The results of the project in Aktobe Province showed that out of the four tested models of education, the model ‘Support School - Small Comprehensive Schools’ is the most effective. In this regard, Gani Beisembayev proposed to scale up the project.

• The Akimat should plan to allocate financial resources from the local budget to upgrade the material and technical base of support and small schools, to provide quality Internet, to pay allowances to stimulate teachers of support schools.
• The Education Department ensures project implementation, monitoring and analysis, and quality control.
• The Methodological Centre fully supervises the training and methodological support of teachers and coordination of the educational process.
• The support school implements a set of support measures to improve the quality of education in a small-size school with full use of available resources.

The main task of a small school is to effectively utilise the support and resources of the support school.

In turn, the Ministry of Education, as the national coordinator, has developed a strategy for the development of rural schools. Akimats now need to ensure step-by-step implementation of work on scaling up the project on the basis of the developed strategy.

For example, this year the project has already involved 10 support and 30 small schools in Akmola, Kostanay, Pavlodar, West Kazakhstan and North Kazakhstan regions. From January 2025, 192 basic and 759 small schools from 17 regions will take part in the project. At the third stage, the project should cover all remaining small-sized schools.

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