Kazakhstan to build new schools with funds seized from corrupt officials

The Education Infrastructure Support Fund will allocate over 106 billion tenge towards the construction of 72 new schools in Kazakhstan. It’s worth noting that over 121 billion tenge confiscated from corrupt officials has already been transferred to the Fund, established on the instructions of the Head of State. The applications from the regions were considered by the National Budget Commission, which also approved the allocation of funds in the amount of 94 billion tenge to complete the construction of 69 schools, providing 85,000 seats. There are also plans to allocate more than 12 billion tenge for the construction of three new educational facilities. It bears noting that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev raised the issue of quality secondary education in his state-of-the-nation address last year, instructing to create comfortable learning conditions for school students.

“Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov has signed a government decree establishing a mechanism for transferring funds coming into the state budget as a result of corruption trials towards the construction of schools, as instructed by the Head of State during his state-of-the-nation address in September last year. To this end, the Education Infrastructure Support Fund was established. The additional funding will help to address the problems of schools facing challenging conditions operating on a three-shift schedule, as well as the shortage of available student spots,” Dinara Alimova, press secretary to the Kazakh Prime Minister, said.