New school year, new rules: What will change in Kazakhstan’s schools

Kazakhstan's new school year brings a ban on gifts for teachers, changes to assessments and tighter controls on smartphone use.

Schools will no longer allow any gifts within their buildings, including the bouquets traditionally given for September 1. First Vice-Minister of Education Shynar Akparova said there was no need for flowers or other gifts at school. The ministry had taken a different view in 2024, when it described flowers as an acceptable sign of respect and gratitude.

For students in grades 2-4, the standard SOR and SOCH summative assessments will be abolished from September 1. Schools will instead hold intermediate assessments after each unit. Students will have the full lesson to complete the work, rather than the 15 to 20 minutes previously allocated for SOR tests. Formative assessment will remain on a 1-to-10 scale, with teachers considering performance throughout the lesson, including answers, individual and group work, homework and other activities.

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Giving flowers or any gifts within school walls is not permitted. We have explicitly stated this. Therefore, there is no need for it.

Makeup is not directly banned for schoolgirls, but individual schools can prohibit it through their uniform rules or internal regulations. Parents cannot be fined solely because a child wears cosmetics. Repeated violations of school uniform requirements can lead first to a warning and then to a fine of five monthly calculation indices, or 21,625 tenge in 2026. Schools cannot exclude a child from classes simply for failing to meet uniform standards.

Students will also have to hand in smartphones during lessons or keep them in their backpacks, mainly in grades 1-7. The policy regulates phone use rather than banning smartphones altogether. Tablets may be used in class, and high school students may receive exceptions for subjects requiring online platforms.

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Kind tradition