Telephone survey shows how many Kazakhstanis support nuclear power plant construction
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A telephone survey was conducted at the request of the Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Research under the Kazakh President between August 7 and 18, 2024. The number of respondents hit 1,200 above 18 years old from 17 regions as well as the cities of Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, Kazinform News Agency reports.
The majority of respondents (53.1%) supports the idea of the nuclear power plant construction. They pin high hopes on its construction, including as a solution to the electrical shortage problem by 2030.
Opponents to the construction (32.5%) associate nuclear power plants with potential emergencies and environmental consequences.
At the same time, practically every 10th respondent (14.4%) was undecided.
Half of the respondents (51.0%) say they have sufficient information and knowledge to vote for or against the construction of the nuclear power plant in the referendum. 12.2% of respondents agreed that they have incomplete information, 31.6% lack knowledge, and 5.2% were undecided.
During the survey, 42.6% of respondents said they are determined to take part in the referendum on the construction of the nuclear power plant if it is held. 16.4% more said they would likely participate in the referendum, meanwhile, 25.3% of respondents do not plan to take part in it. 6.8% were undecided.
As earlier reported, public hearings on the construction of the nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan concluded in Astana.
In an exclusive interview with Kazinform News Agency director of the National Nuclear Center Erlan Batyrbekov shared his view on electricity shortage, the practicality of a nuclear power station construction in Kazakhstan and the latest nuclear reactor technologies. He also revealed how the largest global economies, such as the U.S., China and France, gradually shift away from traditional and old energy sources.
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President Tokayev instructs to better education system, ensure safety of children
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President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev received Minister of Enlightenment Gani Beissembayev, Kazinform News Agency cites the Akorda press service.
Head of State Tokayev was briefed about the measures aimed at developing preschool, secondary, technical and vocational education in the country.
As the President was informed, last year 154 new schools for 137,000 places, helping eliminate 29 three-shift and 12 emergency schools, were commissioned. In the new academic year, 221 education facilities for 365,000 places are set to be commissioned. The level of equipment of schools with subject rooms has been doubled, the internet quality has been improved.
According to Beissembayev, the educational work remains a priority area, as the ‘Birtutas tarbiye’ program based on the national values ‘Adal adam - Adal enbek - Adal tabys (Fair person - Fair labor - Fair income) was introduced.
Tokayev was informed about the betterment of the quality of secondary education, with each textbook being converted to a digital format and each student, representing Kazakhstan in Olympiads, ending up with a medal. Last year, Kazakhstani students claimed a total of 58 gold medals in Olympiads.
The Head of State was presented with the projects aimed at transforming the system of technical and vocational education as well as promoting inclusive and specialized education.
In conclusion, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev set a number of tasks before the minister on bettering the system of education and ensuring the safety of children.
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Kazakh PM Bektenov: Major businesses need to exercise their social responsibility
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Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held a meeting of the Council of Domestic Entrepreneurs with the participation of Atameken Chamber of Entrepreneurs and representatives of large businesses, primeminister.kz reports.
The main purpose was to discuss current issues of entrepreneurship development and consider measures for further cooperation in the implementation of tasks set by the President in his Address to the people of Kazakhstan "Fair Kazakhstan: law and order, economic growth, social optimism".
Olzhas Bektenov noted that the state is working hard to improve the investment climate, unlock the country's industrial potential, solve infrastructure problems and develop the real sector of the economy. In turn, big business plays an important role in the technological and innovative development of the country, creates opportunities for the development of small and medium-sized businesses.
Representatives of the energy, manufacturing, oil and gas sectors, mining and metallurgical complex, agro-industrial complex, transport and financial sector, healthcare, IT, tourism made proposals during the discussion. The issues of support for domestic manufacturers were raised with a focus on new projects in such priority areas as deep processing of metals, oil and gas chemistry, and others.
Special attention was paid to the development of in-country value. The Government together with Atameken is developing a new methodology for determining the share of kazsoderzhdeniye in goods, works and services. Olzhas Bektenov emphasised that the new mechanism will be fairer and will give a serious impetus to the development of domestic enterprises. The relevant structures have been instructed to speed up the ongoing work.
The issues of expanding the use of artificial intelligence systems and the development of digital technologies were considered. The importance of developing tourism, housing and utilities, green finance aimed at implementing environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and low-carbon projects was emphasised.
During the discussion, attention was paid to the issue of providing the country with a stable energy supply. Business representatives expressed their support for the Head of State's initiative to develop nuclear energy and noted that in conditions of energy capacity shortage, a new source of constant energy is needed for further development of industry and commissioning of new facilities. Thus, in case of a positive decision on the construction of a nuclear power plant at the referendum on 6 October this year, the country will be able to cover the energy needs of current and prospective industries, create new jobs, etc.
Summarising the results of the meeting, Prime Minister noted that in order to achieve the tasks set by the President it is necessary to actively involve business in the development of the real sector of the economy.
The Head of State is actively pursuing comprehensive modernisation of Kazakhstan. It is important that economic growth directly affects the quality of life of our citizens. At the same time, big business should show social responsibility. As you know, the President has declared next year the Year of Working Professions. We already have successful examples when big businessmen take patronage over colleges and create a proper base for training specialists. This model also allows enterprises to train their future personnel. Within the framework of the Year of Working Professions it is necessary to intensify such practice," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.
The need to develop entrepreneurship in rural areas and provide year-round employment of rural residents was noted.
Head of the Government instructed the relevant ministries to study the proposals voiced by business. In particular, to consider the possibility of introducing a reduced tax rate on income on loans for green projects, improving incentives for farmers to develop domestic seed production, reducing the purchase of imported goods and services in case of availability of domestic analogues.
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80,000 students to be educated under government target order with requests from enterprises
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In the Address of the Head of State to the people of Kazakhstan, 2025 was declared the Year of Working Professions. In this regard, the transformation of the system of vocational education has begun in the republic. Minister of Education Gani Beisembayev at the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov announced key measures to reform colleges and develop teaching potential, primeminister.kz reports.
The first is profiling. For its implementation, an analysis of the economic structure of the regions has been carried out. According to its results, together with state bodies 4 macro-regions and their directions of development were defined. Thus, in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, where more than a third of the country's labour force is concentrated, simple industries are being localised and infrastructure development will continue. In the central and eastern regions, further industrialisation is planned to ensure inter-sectoral and inter-regional transfer of personnel. In the north, the agricultural sector will be intensified, and in the west, new industries will be created around large companies. In the central and eastern regions, further industrialisation is planned to ensure interregional transfer of personnel. In the northern regions, the agricultural sector will be intensively developed, while in the West, new industries will be created around large companies.
Taking into account these directions, the profiling of colleges has been started in order to focus the regions more on training personnel with technical and vocational education. 195 colleges, most of which are localised in Kyzylorda and Karaganda regions and in the city of Astana, have been re-profiled to suit the economic structures of the regions. In the past academic year, licences for 624 specialities and 780 qualifications were revoked.
The second direction is the formation of 100 technological leaders. To this end, the Ministry has developed a draft system of evaluation of technical and vocational education organisations. The assessment system is based on the rating assessments used in international practice and OECD countries. The main criteria will be the implementation of international industry training standards and the share of students certified according to them. The assessment of achievements is carried out annually and allows TVET organisations to independently build individual development trajectories. The assessment system allows to evaluate all parameters of activity in technical and vocational education organisations.
The application of this assessment system will allow to distribute TVET organisations into 4 leagues. The colleges classified in the first and second leagues will form the first 100 technological leaders. They will become reference resource centres for other colleges. Today 6 colleges of the country are implementing such standards and their graduates are certified in the relevant specialities," the speaker noted.
For example, in Atyrau, APEC PetroTechnic College has introduced an international standard of education in the oil and gas industry, in Taldykorgan Higher Polytechnic College in the construction industry. Certified graduates of this college are in great demand both in our country and abroad. This year by the end of the year it is planned to carry out similar accreditation in 5 colleges. By 2030, 30 colleges in the country will undergo international sectoral accreditation, which will make it possible to train specialists according to world standards. This will ensure continuity of TVET educational programmes with universities.
The third area will be capacity building of educators. In this regard, the international internship of teachers in the best colleges of OECD countries will be expanded; the use of the so-called ‘lateral entry’ or involvement of the best specialists of the industry in the activities of TVET through the organisation of short-term courses will continue; it is planned to introduce internships for teachers at enterprises and attract specialists from industry; in addition, work is now underway to develop the institute of mentoring," the Minister of Education reported.
The fourth direction is certification of graduates. Mandatory certification, which is carried out by authorised bodies, takes place in specialties classified as regulated professions. Independent certification is done for unregulated professions. Now, as part of the transformation, it is proposed to create a system of independent certification for all types of professions. In this case, not only the knowledge and skills of the graduate will be assessed, but also the educational organisations themselves.
Cooperation with business will continue, colleges will become an industrial platform where industry leaders will unite. The mechanism of transferring colleges into trust management to large and medium-sized businesses with the obligation to develop infrastructure, preserve and invest in the profile and contingent of the educational organisation will be reviewed.
The experience of ALLUR in Kostanay region, which provides patronage to the local automobile college, can be considered as an effective mechanism of transfer into trust management. Its distinctive features from the current mechanism: improvement of the educational process; strengthening of material and technical base; permanent access to practice bases equipped with innovative production technologies; expansion of employment opportunities for graduates; the object remains in state ownership.
As a result of the transfer to trust management, colleges will be equipped with modern equipment. 80 thousand students will be trained under the targeted state order with requests from enterprises.
The transformation of the technical and vocational education system requires the formation of effective management. In this regard, training of the management corps will be continued, they will be trained on the example of the best international practices and 1 thousand leaders. Internationalisation will be started, in the framework of which transfer of management system will be carried out, as well as higher education institutions, KPI for technical and vocational education organisations will be established depending on the league and resource potential.
Development of strategic partnership with foreign colleges will be done by attracting investments and introducing new technologies of training and corporate governance. Strategic partnership with foreign colleges will be developed through attracting investments and introducing new technologies of training and corporate governance. I am sure that we will carry out this work in close co-operation with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as branches of 23 leading world universities are already actively working in our country. Partnership with universities will also be strengthened. For example, in the Northern macro-region, Kokshetau University named after Sh. Ualikhanov became a strategic partner of the leading colleges of the region, and the University of Pennsylvania became a foreign partner," Gani Beisembayev emphasised.
As a result, the country's colleges will develop international co-operation by expanding the academic mobility of students and teachers.
The fifth direction is to reset the financial model of TVET. The sources of financing of TVET should be diversified. They should be: the state placing state orders, employers with target orders for personnel training, as well as TVET's own revenues from the production of goods and services.
As for the per capita standard, it should consist of the current basic part and a new incentive payment. At the same time, incentive payments will be provided when the established values of the MTP are achieved. When it is implemented at TPEs belonging to the first league, the norms of per capita financing can be increased from 891 thousand tenge to 1.3 million tenge per student, depending on the group of specialities.
The volume of additional need to increase the amount of per capita funding norms for colleges as a whole for 2025-2027 will amount to 178.3 billion tenge. Of this, 53.7 billion tenge is needed for 2025. At present, the draft of the new methodology of the per capita funding norm is being worked out together with the Ministry of Finance, following the results of which it will be submitted for consideration of the Republican Budget Commission," the Minister summarised.
As a result of measures to develop the system of technical and vocational education in the country will be created 100 colleges-leaders; the coverage of young people in technical and vocational education will increase by 1.5 times; in the training of professional specialists will develop a system of international recognition of qualifications; colleges will become centres for training creative leaders and flexible, qualified specialists for the labour market.
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