22.05.2018, 20:57 2850

Kazakhstan to borrow up to US65mln for enhancing education quality

A loan agreement between Kazakhstan and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development was considered.
The Social and Cultural Development and Science Committee under the Senate of Parliament considered a draft law "On ratification of a Loan Agreement (The modernization project of secondary education) between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development", the press service of the Senate of Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan reports.

The agreement was signed in August 21, 2017 in Astana. The document complies with the priority that is set in the 76th step of the National Plan – 100 specific steps on the implementation of the five institutional reforms of head of state Nazarbayev, as well as the State Program for Education and Science Development for 2016-19.

The total amount of costs of the Modernization project of secondary education will be 75 million dollars, including a loan of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the amount of 67 million dollars, co-financing a loan from the republican budget in the amount of 8 million US dollars.

A loan of the National Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the amount of 67 million US dollars is provided to Kazakhstan with a repayment term of 17 years, including the 5.5-year grace period.

The agreement’s aim is to increase the quality of a system of secondary education, to support modernization, to enhance the accessibility and equality in education.

The agreement includes a number of initiatives in supporting the updated content of education, such as revision of an assessment system be means of forming news standards of UNT (Unified National Testing) testing, external assessment by means academic achievement and renovating the base of test tasks.

One of the main directions of the agreement is to increase school results in rural secondary and ungraded schools through increasing the accessibility to educational materials, installing multimedia equipment, increasing the potential of rural teachers. Almost 67% of the total amount of funding of the agreement will be spent to provide 5400 schools with interactive equipment. It is planned to buy 32.5 thousand units of equipment allowing to provide 60% of rooms of rural schools with computers, projectors and screens.

About 200 thousand teachers and directors of rural schools should pass trainings in management. The main beneficiaries of the agreement will be more than 3 million schoolmen, including children with special educational needs.

The agreement is also aimed to support inclusive education. It is planned to create and equip 9 resource centres on the base of secondary schools, to increase the qualification of disability specialists, experts in physiologic, medical and pedagogical consultations, to buy books for children with visual and intellectual impairments.

The implementation of the agreement should facilitate to the decrease in a gap in academic achievements and to level the education quality between rural and urban schools.

The document is submitted to the chamber for consideration.

Source: BNews.kz

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