The investment volume in the education sector in Kazakhstan in January of this year amounted to 79.1 billion tenge — an impressive 7.3 times higher in monetary terms compared to January 2024 (index of physical output — 715.4%). The previous year also saw significant growth: an increase of 3.9 times in monetary terms (index of physical output — 363%), as reported by finprom.kz.
Overall, for the year 2024, capital investments in the sector increased by 2.4 times, reaching 1.1 trillion tenge (index of physical output — 243.3%). The previous year, investments in education grew by 21.5% (index of physical output — 115.3%).
In recent years, the education sector has become a priority task for the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, alongside social welfare and assistance to citizens, as well as healthcare, science, tourism, and sports. This year, as part of budget planning, the government has allocated increased funding for items related to human capital development, social services, and programs aimed at improving the quality of life for citizens.
Regionally, in January of this year, nearly 40% of the total investment volume in the education sector was concentrated in Almaty and Astana, amounting to 18.4 billion and 13.1 billion tenge, respectively. Significant capital investments were also observed in Almaty region (7.2 billion tenge), Akmolinsk region (6.8 billion tenge), and Turkestan region (5.8 billion tenge).
The lowest investment volumes in the sector, as in January of the previous year, were recorded in Ulytau and Zhetisu regions: 118.2 million and 285.5 million tenge, respectively — noticeably higher, however, than a year earlier. In Atyrau region, capital investments exceeded 1.2 billion tenge — significantly more than in January 2024, when the investment volume in the education sector in the region was only 3.2 million tenge.
In terms of funding sources, the education sector in January of this year was primarily supported by the republican budget: 65 billion tenge — substantially more than in January 2024 (42.4 million tenge). It is noteworthy that overall, in the previous year, capital investments in the sector from the republican budget increased 12.6 times, reaching 684.5 billion tenge.
Following that are local budgets (7.1 billion tenge for January of this year) and business's own funds (6.8 billion tenge). It is important to note that the volume of investments from local budgets grew by 4.7 times, while investments from own funds decreased by 4.8%. Non-bank borrowed funds accounted for only 208.8 million tenge.
It should be noted that in 2024, 8.8 trillion tenge was allocated from the republican budget for human capital development, of which education expenses amounted to 300 billion tenge, while costs for science and higher education reached 700 billion tenge.
This year, according to the draft republican budget for 2025–2027, more than 1 trillion tenge is planned to be allocated for education development. The main budget items will include an increase in the size of scholarships for university students by an average of 15–20%, the number of grants (approximately 78,000 young Kazakhs will be able to receive free higher education), the cost of subsidized transportation for university students, and the salaries of scholars due to the establishment of additional payments for academic titles.