United nations crc

Aims of education
(art. 29)

423. The main aim of education in Kazakhstan is to improve the quality of human resources training and satisfy the needs of the individual and society.

Other aims of education are reflected in paragraphs 335-337 of the initial report on the implementation of the Convention, considered in 2003.

Leisure, recreation and cultural activities
(art. 31)

424. In order to fulfil article 31 of the Convention, steps are being taken to guarantee the right of the child to rest and leisure and to full participation in cultural life and the arts.

425. This right is realized primarily through a network of extra-curricular organizations: recreation and community halls, centres and complexes, children’s and young people’s arts workshops, centres and facilities for young technicians, tourists and naturalists, music and sports schools for children, art schools, special-interest clubs, and sports, health and holiday camps, etc.

426. In the Republic today, there are 586 extra-curricular organizations, 216 of which are in rural areas, as well as more than 500 backyard clubs, over 5,000 sports centres and 8,500 sports grounds.

427. Around 50,000 different hobby groups, workshops and clubs are run in more than 7,000 general-education schools providing supplementary education programmes in different areas of learning and in the arts to approximately 40 per cent of schoolchildren, in addition to the basic education programmes.

428. There are 297 organizations providing extended arts education (folk crafts centres, creative workshops, studios, art schools, music schools and others). Such organizations promote the development of creativity, early vocational direction and autonomy among children, and the acquisition by children of the rudiments of their future vocational education.

429. In recent years, children’s access to the arts has been expanded owing to the creation of suitable conditions in educational establishments: lycées, gymnasiums, secondary generaleducation schools, schools with extensive teaching of the arts, and specialized artistic classes.

430. Councils of directors of extra-curricular organizations have been established in order to further develop this trend, as well as to devise an arts education strategy and to coordinate the efforts of the relevant departments and organizations.

431. In order to develop children’s interest in scientific and technical fields, there are 14 centres for young technicians in the Republic, catering to over 7,000 children.

432. Technical hobby groups are frequented by boys for the most part; this distracts them - especially those children displaying delinquent behaviour - from negative surroundings and bad habits.

433. Supplementary education in environmental biology is provided through 18 young naturalists’ centres and environmental-biology facilities (covering more than 11,000 children) focusing on environmental protection and scientific research.

434. The environmental issues emerging throughout the world - protection of woodland, cleaning of rivers and other water bodies, care of flora and fauna - all require a shift in consciousness among the rising generations; refining the activities of institutions providing supplementary education for children in the field of environmental biology will allow leading scientists and specialists to become involved in working with children.

435. There are more than 130 sports organizations in the Republic covering more than 80 types of sport that promote children’s physical development, educate them about healthy lifestyles and train the country’s young athletes. More than 17,000 sports clubs are run in general-education schools, catering to more than 450,000 children.

436. Over 800,000 children each year participate in various tourism and local-history programmes for pupils, such as “Atameken”, “Bolashak”, “Zhas Urpak” and “Shugyla”.

437. History and culture, feats of arms and stories of compatriots, ancestral and folk arts - all of these subjects and many more besides will feature in children’s education, as inspiration for their social, personal and intellectual development and for their education as patriots of their

homeland. Educational sightseeing and local-history activities are offered by nine centres for young tourists and by hundreds of tourist centres and pupils’ clubs in educational establishments of all shapes and sizes.

438. Over 200 centres and clubs for young paratroopers, parachutists, border guards and sailors provide supplementary education to more than 20,000 children.

439. Great importance is attached in the Republic to developing children’s social initiatives. Today, Kazakhstan has more than 200 children’s associations, reaching about 600,000 children.

440. There are 542 backyard clubs that organize recreational activities for children and young people in education, particularly adolescents in difficulty.

441. In 2005, there were approximately 300 countryside camps, more than 6,000 camps attached to schools, 80 sanatorium-type camps, 230 tented camps, 6 year-round camps, 870 specialist camps and 100 debating and other camps providing leisure and health activities for children during the summer holidays. In the same year, 1.5 billion tenge was allocated for the organization of summer leisure activities for children, including 800 million tenge for children from low-income families.

In addition to this sum, 30 million tenge was earmarked from the central budget for leisure and health activities for children in rural areas.

442. Currently, more than 12,000 persons, 1,000 senior youth leaders, 284,000 class teachers and 900 psychologists are working in extra-curricular organizations that provide supplementary education.

443. The necessary legal and regulatory framework has been put in place for organizing the activities of extra-curricular organizations, and scientific and practical conferences, seminar/meetings, round tables and other such events are held on that theme.

444. Issues relating to the organization of leisure, recreation and cultural activities for children are covered in paragraphs 338-344 of the initial report on the implementation of the Convention, considered in 2003.