Ministry of Education wants Kazakhstani schools to adopt practices to prevent religious extremism

The agency has proposed introducing new official requirements for teachers / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Arthur Aleskerov

The Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan will require teachers to take preventive measures to counter religious extremism in their schools. The agency has also proposed amending qualification requirements for teachers. The draft regulation has been published on legalacts.egov.kz.

If the document is approved, teachers in Kazakhstan will be responsible for the following tasks:

Preventing religious extremism in schools;
Teaching students, teachers and employees to adopt moral and spiritual values.

All these changes aim to implement the first article of the Roadmap for Preventing Extremism and Terrorism Among Minors for 2024-2026. The new criteria will be part of the qualification requirements applied to principals, heads of methodical centers and inspectors for youth affairs.

Moreover, the ministry demands that knowledge of the law on countering extremism be added to the list of qualification requirements for teachers.

In October 2023, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with teachers and commented on the matter of hijabs in schools. He emphasized that Kazakhstan is a secular state and that the principle of secularism must be respected in all spheres of public life, including education. As the president pointed out, every child is set to make their own choice when they grow up and have their own belief system fully formed.

Regarding hijabs, the Ministry of Culture said it is going to ban wearing hijabs and burkas in public places as these types of clothing can prevent people wearing them from being identified by the police, “worry” some people and “scare” their children.