Social reforms in Kazakhstan in 2022
Since President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev came to power in 2019, several economic and political reform packages have been introduced. Still, with the geopolitical turmoil in the region and beyond and continuous economic shocks, social demands have also been building up, including the quality and accessibility of education, healthcare, and social protection. While economic development truly matters, it is social concerns that are centered in the minds of the population.
Education sector
In his address to the nation on September 1, 2022, President Tokayev said the sphere of preschool education should be a priority. Preschool education in Kazakhstan covers only a little more than half of the children between the age of 2-6.
«This situation is inadmissible,» he said back then.
Since the beginning of 2022, 259 preschool organizations have been opened, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Education. The queue for the last three years has decreased by almost 200,000 places.
Since the beginning 2022, 453 kindergartens for 37,700 places were opened in the country, bringing the coverage of children from 3 to 6 years old by preschool education to 98.4 percent.
In 2022, Kazakhstan transitioned to a new preschool model with a new standard and a new curriculum, where approaches are focused on the child and their interests. Timetabled lessons, academic approaches to learning and teacher-oriented approaches have changed to learning through play during the day, the formation of children's skills in a developmental environment with centers of interest, considering the interests and desires of the child.
To foster individual work with each child, a pilot project, envisioning two teachers in a group during the day, was launched. In 2023, it is planned to begin a phased implementation of the project, which will increase salaries and reduce the burden on educators.
In 2022, the shortage of school seats was 270,000, including 174,000 seats for urban areas and 96,000 for the countryside. As of December 10, 2022, 201 new schools for 106,000 pupils opened their doors.
The Comfortable School national project, adopted in 2022, also aims to create 800,000 student places that meet modern requirements and solve the problem of emergency and three-shift schools. 2.6 trillion tenge has been allocated for the implementation of this project.
As of November 1, 2022, according to the National Educational Database, 37 schools in the country, or 0.54 percent of the total number of general public day schools, are considered at the emergency state and 142 schools, or 2.06 percent of the total number of general public day schools, have three-shift education.
The current pace of school construction, however, needs to catch up with the demographic and migration processes and the growing shortage of school places.
Another priority of the national project is to create a comfortable and safe educational environment in secondary education institutions.
In December 2022, the Ministry of Education adopted the bullying prevention rules. Bullying was introduced as a term into the legislation of Kazakhstan. The law defines it as systematic (two or more times) actions of humiliating nature, harassment and (or) intimidation, including those aimed at forcing to commit or refuse to commit any action, as well as the same actions committed publicly or using the media and (or) telecommunications networks (cyberbullying).
School administrations are obliged to create conditions aimed at the formation of respect for the rights and interests of participants in the educational process, a culture of zero tolerance for bullying of a child.
Healthcare sector
In his address to the nation in September 2022, President Tokayev also cautioned about the critical state of the healthcare system.
«The harmonious development of society is possible only if the health of the nation is ensured. Despite reforms in health care, the state of the industry leaves much to be desired,» he said back then.
In 2022, 87 new primary health care facilities were opened, including four polyclinics, five primary health care centers, 24 outpatient clinics, and 43 medical stations. Most are in rural areas, where medical services remain limited and less accessible to the population.
«In 2022, Kazakhstan opened the world's first primary healthcare demonstration site for 53 member states of the World Health Organization European Region in Yenbekshikazakh district of Almaty region for the provision of best practices of primary health care to the population. Seventy-five pharmacy points at medical organizations and 165 private pharmacies were opened to provide medicines to rural residents. Two medical trains - Zhardem and Salamatty Kazakhstan – resumed their work, providing medical assistance to more than 77,000 people,» said the Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare in its statement.
Preventive examinations of rural residents were introduced, a pilot project for screening newborns for 49 hereditary diseases was launched, and packages for medical examinations of children were expanded.
Throughout the country, the ambulance service served nearly 4 million calls, medical aviation performed more than 1,000 flights, about 1.5 million patients were treated in hospitals, over 350,000 operations were performed and about 200,000 childbirths took place.
According to the data from the Kazakh government, the total mortality decreased by 28 percent compared with the previous year, and maternal mortality decreased by 3.5 times. Mortality from circulatory diseases fell by nearly 32 percent, cancer by 9 percent, trauma by 4 percent, respiratory diseases by 33 percent and tuberculosis by 17 percent.
In 2022, the nation also approved the Modernization of Rural Healthcare national project that envisions the construction of 655 primary healthcare facilities by 2026. 12 existing hospitals will be renovated and 20 new multipurpose district hospitals will be opened as part of the project.
The implementation of a three-year comprehensive cancer control plan will also begin in 2023.
Incomes of the population
The development of the social sphere is directly related to people’s incomes. Wrapping up the results of the work in 2022 in this area, the government said that in 2022, the salaries of more than 3 million people had been increased, including doctors by 30 percent, teachers - by 25 percent, and other public sector employees - by 20 percent.
In 2022, the Kazakh government developed a program aimed at increasing the incomes of the population. However, at an expanded government meeting on December 12, President Tokayev tasked the government to update the program to»meet the realities.»
«The main factor behind the rise in inflation is the rise in food prices in all key groups. Food inflation exceeded 24 percent. The real monetary incomes of the population demonstrate the lowest growth rate for the last five years. Almost 900,000 people in the country are formally employed, temporarily unemployed, unproductively self-employed, and unemployed. The main document in this sphere is the program to increase the incomes of the population. It should be brought in line with today's realities,«said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The gap, however, between urban and rural areas is staggering. To bridge that divide, Kazakhstan plans to allocate 1 trillion tenge in the next five years to increase access to microcredits for people living in rural areas. The project was tested in the Zhambyl region, and the plan is now to scale it up to all regions of the country to cover more than 1 million villagers.
The plans for 2023 seem ambitious, but the success of the reforms will be contingent upon the ability to reform the broader public administration and management system and the key state institutions.
Written by Assel Satubaldina