Kazakhstan continues to see steady growth in student numbers and expansion of educational infrastructure. In the 2026-2027 academic year, the country will have 8,048 public schools, a 1.6% increase from the previous period (7,920 schools), according to infohub.kz.
According to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the number of schoolchildren will exceed 4.1 million, with over 380,000 of them being first-graders. For comparison, the previous year saw 3.9 million children in schools, including 363,000 first-graders.
From January to July 2026, the republic commissioned 32 public schools with 18,090 student places and 32 preschool organizations with 4,207 places. A significant portion of the new facilities were built in rural areas: 14 schools and 26 kindergartens.
The leaders in opening new schools were the Turkistan and Atyrau regions (5 facilities each). Three schools were opened in the Aktobe, Almaty, and Karaganda regions, two in the Zhambyl region, as well as in Almaty and Shymkent.
Over the seven months of 2026, the additional education infrastructure was supplemented with 9 educational centers (in the Kyzylorda, Atyrau, Almaty, and Zhambyl regions, and Shymkent). Additionally, a children's creativity center with an area of 10,600 square meters began operating in Almaty, and the Palace of Schoolchildren with an area of 9,800 square meters opened in the Abai region.