Kazakhstan emphasises higher education as weapon against terrorism

ASTANA -- Kazakhstan is launching an educational reform that it hopes will raise the quality of education and make the younger generation less receptive to extremism.

The move comes as hundreds of radicalised Kazakhstanis fight alongside militants in Syria.

This year marked a turning point in college entrance exams for Kazakhstan. From June 2 through 9, Kazakhstani high-school graduates took the annual Unified National Test (UNT), which simultaneously determined whether they would graduate from high school and whether they would qualify for a university in Kazakhstan.

This was the 13th and last year for the one-step UNT. Starting next year, the process becomes two-step: High-school students will take the UNT. If they pass, they will have the right to take the entrance exam at the university that they wish to attend.

Competing in a challenging world

A more selective educational system will matter in a competitive world, officials and educators say.

They include Senate Chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who spoke at an April conference in Astana for educators from the CIS.

The entire world is paying more attention to education, he said. "We're talking not only about a steady rise in standards of teaching but also about patriotic education and the imparting of high moral qualities."

The well-being of the nation depends on universal, secular, higher education, Aliya Sandykbayeva, principal of High School No. 105 in Almaty, told Central Asia Online.

"Youth extremism occupies a particular place within the problem of extremism," she said. "Accessible secondary and higher education is a way to protect the young against terrorist recruitment."

"School ... helps form a child's view of the world but also helps us keep track of a child's psychological condition," she said. "A teacher who sees a child starting to form radical views will inform the parents at once and might work with the child, with the police helping out."

"Teaching subjects like history of Kazakhstan, sociology, and the Kazakh and other languages matters greatly to forming children's personalities and sense of citizenship," she said.

No room for terrorism

Higher education drives young Kazakhstanis to try to better themselves, Aliya Kanagatova, a professor at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Almaty, told Central Asia Online.

"It is difficult to lure such young people into terrorist camps," she said. "They are trying to create a successful, fulfilling, happy and varied life."

In 2016, 86,991 high-school graduates took the UNT, Alibek Shokparov, spokesman for the Education and Science Ministry, told Central Asia Online.

"They included 63,021 who were taught in the Kazakh-language system and 23,970 in the Russian-language system," he said. "Over the years of its existence, this test fullfilled its mission."

A fair test for children

The rigorous UNT "served as a barrier against corruption in the university admission process", Shokparov said. "It also established social justice by ensuring equal access to higher education for all of the country's youth."

Saken Jumashev, a graduate of Almaty High School No. 125, scored 115 out of a possible 120 on the UNT this year. He considers it fair and bias-free.

"The UNT assesses knowledge fairly, rather than an exam in which much depends on the teacher's personal attitude," he told Central Asia Online. "Assessing knowledge through [standardised] testing is a long-time practice in many developed countries ... Kazakhstan is taking another step on the road to becoming a developed state."