In Kurmangazy District of Atyrau Region, a new school building has been constructed in open steppe, more than 3 km from the village of Akkol. Parents are concerned that children cannot get to the school on their own, reports infohub.kz.
According to local residents, the distance from the village to the school exceeds three kilometers. Parents are reluctant to let their children go alone, as they fear for their safety.
"It's very far, the distance is 3–4 km. A child can't walk it. Even if they walk, the journey takes more than an hour and a half. And they're not walking on a safe paved road!" says villager Danagul Serikkalikyzy.
Akkol residents note that a dirt road leads to the school, and it has no lighting whatsoever. That is why parents are worried about their children's safety.
"There's fog, anything can happen. A child is in danger. There's no lighting, nothing has been done. It's our mistake—we shouldn't have allowed the school to open until all conditions were in place. The children should have studied at the old school by the railway. We believe our children are now in danger," says local resident Zhansseit Akhatuly.
Residents have appealed to the district education department with a request to provide a bus to transport children to and from school in winter.
"All these issues, the parents' complaints that children cannot get to school because of the distance—all of this will be laid out and sent to the relevant authorities. Right now, the district education department has no mechanism to solve this problem on its own. Therefore, we are again preparing a proposal to the regional education department on this matter," says Zhiger Dzhankanov, head of the education department.