Kazakhstan's Education Ministry Removes 'Quarrel with Father' from Required School Curriculum

The story "Quarrel with Father," which drew criticism from a Kazakh parent after helping his second-grade daughter with homework, has been excluded from the updated list of mandatory school literature. This was reported by infohub.kz.

According to the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Expertise of Educational Content under the Ministry of Education, the work in question is by Dariya Dzhumageldinova from the book "Yerkegali — the Mischievous Boy." The text was included in a literary reading textbook back in 2017. The center emphasized that before that, the textbook had undergone expert review, pilot testing, and public discussion.

According to the center's data, from 2017 to 2021, no complaints from parents about this story were received. In 2022, second-grade textbooks were reissued, and the text remained in one of them.

The Ministry of Education explained that the story was intended to help children discuss family relationships and the consequences of the characters' actions.

"The story 'Quarrel with Father' was included in the textbook to develop students' understanding of responsibility for their actions, relationships between children and adults, respect for parents, and family values. According to the learning objectives of the standard curriculum, the content of the story provides for discussion of the main character's actions and their consequences," the center said.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and the National Academy of Education named after Y. Altynsarin are revising school programs. The story "Quarrel with Father" is no longer on the new mandatory list.

"The updated list of works required for study does not include this story by D.T. Dzhumageldinova. The improved standard curricula have passed the stages of expert review and pilot testing and are at the approval stage," the response states.

After the programs are approved, the development of new textbooks will begin.

Earlier, Kursiv wrote that Kazakh citizen Alibek Arystanov noticed the story while doing homework with his second-grade daughter. He was particularly outraged by an episode where a boy, after quarreling with his father, falls asleep on the floor and then wakes up because his sister is undressing him. The Arman-PV publishing house reported that this textbook is not currently being reissued.