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OECD Reviews of School Resources

Kazakhstan
Anna Pons, Jeremie Amoroso, Jan Herczynski,
Igor Kheyfets, Marlaine Lockheed and Paulo Santiago
OECD Reviews of School
Resources:
Kazakhstan
2015

Anna Pons, Jeremie Amoroso, Jan Herczyński,

Igor Kheyfets, Marlaine Lockheed and Paulo Santiago
This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The
opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official
views of OECD member countries or the World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or of
the governments they represent.

This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or
sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries
and to the name of any territory, city or area.

Please cite this publication as:

OECD/The World Bank (2015), OECD Reviews of School Resources: Kazakhstan 2015, OECD Publishing,
Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264245891-en

ISBN 978-92-64-24579-2 (print)

ISBN 978-92-64-24589-1 (PDF)
ISBN 978-92-64-24604-1 (epub)

Series: OECD Reviews of School Resources

ISSN 2413-4333 (print)
ISSN 2413-3841 (online)

The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use
of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli
settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.

Photo credits: Cover © VLADGRIN/Shutterstock.com.

Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/about/publishing/corrigenda.htm.

© OECD and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank 2015

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OECD Reviews of School Resources: Kazakhstan 2015, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264245891-en. License: Creative
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permission is needed for that re-use and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not
limited to, tables, figures, or images. All requests for commercial use or queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to OECD e-mail:
[email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for commercial use should be addressed directly to the
Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected].
 FOREWORD

Foreword
T his joint OECD-World Bank report for Kazakhstan forms part of the OECD Review of Policies to
Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (also referred to as the School Resources Review,
see Annex A for further details). The purpose of the Review is to explore how resources can be
governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school
education. School resources are understood in a broad way, including financial resources
(e.g. expenditures on education, school budget), physical resources (e.g. school buildings, computers),
human resources (e.g. teachers, school leaders) and other resources (e.g. learning time).
Kazakhstan was one of the countries which opted to participate in the country review strand
and host a visit by an external review team. Members of the review team were Anna Pons (OECD
Secretariat), co-ordinator of the Review; Jeremie Amoroso (World Bank); Jan Herczy ski (Institute for
Educational Research, Poland); Igor Kheyfets (World Bank); Marlaine Lockheed (Princeton University,
United States); and Paulo Santiago (OECD Secretariat). The biographies of the members of the
review team are provided in Annex B. This publication is the report from the review team. It
provides, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing the use
of school resources in Kazakhstan, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches. The
report serves three purposes: (1) Provide insights and advice to Kazakh education authorities;
(2) Help other countries understand the Kazakh approach; and (3) Provide input for the final
comparative analysis of the OECD School Resources Review.
The OECD review team is grateful for the support provided by: the Minister of Education and
Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Aslan Sarinzhipov, and the staff of the Ministry; by Serik
Irsaliyev, President of the JSC “Information-Analytic Center” (hereafter IAC), Yerlan Shulanov,
Vice-President of IAC, and their staff. Kazakhstan’s involvement in the OECD Review was
co-ordinated by Assem Satmukhambetova, then Director of the Department for Secondary Education
Development of the IAC, from September 2013 until May 2014; and, from June 2014 on, by
Zhannat Mussina, Leading Analyst, Department for Secondary Education Development of the IAC.
An important part of Kazakhstan’s involvement was the preparation of a comprehensive and
informative Country Background Report (CBR) on school resources authored by the IAC. The CBR is
an important output from the OECD project in its own right as well as an important source for the
review team. Unless indicated otherwise, the data for this report are taken from the Kazakh Country
Background Report. The CBR follows guidelines prepared by the OECD Secretariat and provides
extensive information, analysis and discussion in regard to the national context, the organisation of
the education system, the use of school resources and the views of key stakeholders. In this sense, the
CBR and this report complement each other and, for a more comprehensive view of the effectiveness
of school resource use in Kazakhstan, should be read in conjunction.
The Review visit to Kazakhstan took place on 31 March – 8 April 2014. The itinerary is provided
in Annex C. The visit was designed by the OECD and the World Bank in collaboration with the Kazakh
authorities and involved a preparatory visit on 3-4 March, 2014. During the Review visit, the team
conducted 53 meetings (with about 52 hours of discussions), visited 6 schools, and interviewed

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 3
FOREWORD

268 people. The review team held discussions with a wide range of groups at all levels of government
(central, regional and local). At the national level, the review team met with Aslan Sarinzhipov,
Minister of Education and Science; other officials of the Ministry of Education and Science of the
Republic of Kazakhstan (hereafter MESRK) and its main subordinated organisations (i.e. National
Center for Educational Statistics and Evaluation, the IAC and the Financial Center); officials of the
Executive Office of the President; the then Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning; the Ministry of
Finance; and an elected representative to the Senate. At the regional and local levels, meetings were
held with educational and finance authorities of the cities of Astana and Almaty, the region of Akmola,
and the municipalities of Arshaly and Talgar. In addition, the visit included meetings with researchers
in both Almaty and Astana, and the national teacher union. The Team also attended a half-day
roundtable on ‘Improving Education Quality’ organised by the Kazakh Ministry of Education and
Science and the World Bank. The intention was to provide the review team with a broad cross-section
of information and opinions on school resource use and how its effectiveness can be improved.
The review team wishes to record its grateful appreciation to the many people who gave time from
their busy schedules to inform the review team of their views, experiences and knowledge. The meetings
were open and provided a wealth of insights. Special words of appreciation are due to the National
Co-ordinator at the time of the visit, Assem Satmukhambetova, for going to great lengths to respond to
the questions and needs of the review team. The review team was impressed by her efficiency and
expertise and enjoyed her pleasant company. This gratitude extends to her team for providing excellent
support to the review team, in particular to Zhannat Mussina and Timur Buldybayev, Analysts of the
IAC. The review team is also grateful to Zhannat Mussina for her support as of June 2014 as National
Co-ordinator, which greatly benefited the preparation of this report. In addition, the review team also
wishes to express its appreciation to Irina Burlak, Senior Analyst, and Assylkhan Suyundikov, Junior
Analyst, of the IAC. The courtesy and hospitality extended to us throughout our stay in Kazakhstan made
our task as a review team as pleasant and enjoyable as it was stimulating and challenging.
The School Resources Review of Kazakhstan is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the
OECD and the World Bank. The review team is grateful to peer reviewers and colleagues at the OECD
and the World Bank for providing insightful comments and engaging in stimulating discussions.
From the World Bank, Scherezad Latif, Dorsati Madani and Suhas Parandekar provided insightful
and constructive comments while Cristian Aedo, Alberto Rodriguez, Ludmilla Butenko and
Sebnem Akkaya provided guidance and support. Special gratitude is also extended to
Aliya Bizhanova (World Bank) for her invaluable help with her country knowledge and assistance
during the review team’s visits to Kazakhstan. From the OECD, Deborah Nusche and
Claire Shewbridge provided advice and feedback while Yuri Belfali and Michael Davidson provided
guidance and support. Eléonore Morena and Liz Zachary (both from the OECD Secretariat) provided
key administrative, editorial and layout support. Francesc Masdeu (OECD Secretariat, on
secondment from the Jaume Bofill Foundation) also provided valuable statistical support. Gratitude
is also extended to Ian Whitman and Mihaylo Milovanovitch (both formerly with the OECD) who
initiated Kazakhstan’s involvement in this Review and provided guidance in its initial stages.
It should be noted that the scope for the analysis in this report is limited to school resource use
in general school education (primary, lower secondary and upper general secondary education).
While references are made to early childhood education and vocational/technical secondary
education, these sectors were not the focus of this Review. Also, the analysis presented in this report
refers to the situation faced by the education system in April 2014, when the review team visited
Kazakhstan. A number of significant education policy changes occurred in late 2014 and early 2015
as a result of macroeconomic developments. While these are signalled in this report, they have not
been the subject of further analysis.

4 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 FOREWORD

This report is organised in five chapters. Chapter 1 provides the national context, with
information on the Kazakh school system, main trends and concerns as well as recent developments.
Then Chapters 2 to 5 analyse the effectiveness of school resource use along its main dimensions:
governance, distribution, utilisation and management, presenting strengths, challenges and policy
recommendations. The policy recommendations attempt to build on and strengthen reforms that are
already underway in Kazakhstan, and the strong commitment to further improvement that was
evident among those the review team met. The suggestions should take into account the difficulties
that face any visiting group, no matter how well briefed, in grasping the complexity of Kazakhstan
and fully understanding all the issues. Of course, this report is the responsibility of the review team.
While the review team benefited greatly from the Kazakh CBR and other documents, as well as the
many discussions with a wide range of Kazakh personnel, any errors or misinterpretations in this
report are its responsibility.

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of contents
Acronyms and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Assessment and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Education system context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Strengths and challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 1. School education in Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The governance of the education system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The structure and main features of the school system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Annex 1.A1. Structure of the population by gender and age, 2013. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Annex 1.A2. The education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Annex 1.A3. Indicators of Kazakhstan’s State Programme for Education
Development 2011-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 2. Governance of school resource use in Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Context and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 3. School resource distribution in Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Context and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Annex 3.A1. The new school funding model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Annex 3.A2. The per student funding formula in Lithuania and Poland. . . . . . . . . . 139
Annex 3.A3. The distribution of teachers across categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 7
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 4. School resource utilisation in Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Context and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Annex 4.A1. Staffing requirements in schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Annex 4.A2. Example of lesson allocation in a school, by subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Annex 4.A3. Additional information on teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Chapter 5. School resource management in Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Context and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Annex A. The OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use
in School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Annex B. Composition of the Review Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Annex C. Visit programme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Tables
1.1. Regions of Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.2. Basic education statistics in Kazakhstan and the OECD, 2012-13 . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.A3.1. Indicators of the State Programme for Education Development 2011-20 . . . . . 49
2.1. Distribution of responsibilities for school resource use by area . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.2. Timeline for the national, regional and local budget formulation
in Kazakhstan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.3. Public spending on education in Kazakhstan, the OECD, and selected
countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.1. Characteristics of the school network by region, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.2. Teachers in Kazakhstan: number, level of education and years of experience,
2008-09 and 2012-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.3. Structure of salaries of civil servants, 2011-12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.4. Extra teacher compensation for extra qualifications, career advancement
and selected professional development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.A1.1. Components of the new school funding model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
3.A1.2. Factors considered in the calculation of full time equivalent teachers . . . . . . 137
3.A2.1. Comparison of key elements of the funding formulas in Lithuania
and Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
3.A3.1. Distribution of teachers across categories in urban and rural areas,
by location, 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
4.1. Class size and student-teacher ratio, by region, grade and school size, 2011 . . 147
4.2. Perceptions of principals, teachers and students of school climate, 2011. . . . . 148

8 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

4.3. School attestations, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

4.4. Differences in fourth grade school attestation test scores, by class. . . . . . . . . . 169
4.5. Selected approaches to school collaboration in OECD countries . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
4.A1.1. List of school employees other than teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
4.A3.1. Requirements for teachers to access “higher-level” training programmes,
by programme level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
4.A3.2. Qualification requirements for teacher attestations, by category . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Figures
1.1. Evolution of GDP per capita and government consumption expenditure . . . . . 32
1.2. Levels of reading achievement in PISA 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1.A1.1. Structure of the population by gender and age, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
1.A2.1. The education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.1. School autonomy in Kazakhstan and OECD, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.2. Annual public expenditure per student in Kazakhstan, by level of education,
2009-13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.3. Variance in per student expenditure across regions in Kazakhstan (%),
local budgets, 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.4. The relationship between GDP per capita, cumulative expenditure
per student on school education and mean PISA performance
in mathematics of 15-year-olds, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2.5. Efficiency and equity of investing early in education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.1. Capital and current education expenditure in Kazakhstan
and OECD countries, 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.2. Change in the average score and proportion of top and low performers
in PISA from 2003 to 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3.3. School principals’ perceptions of adequacy of physical infrastructure
and educational resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.1. Compulsory instructional hours in Kazakhstan and OECD average,
by age group, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
4.2. Frequency of engagement in instructional leadership in Kazakhstan
and OECD average, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.3. Perceptions of parental involvement in Kazakhstan and OECD average, 2012 . 160
4.4. Perceptions of disruptive classroom behaviour in Kazakhstan
and OECD average, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4.5. Attendance of after-school classes of 15-year-olds, 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
4.A2.1. Example of lesson allocation, by subject (hours per year) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 9
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Acronyms and abbreviations

ADB Asian Development Bank

AEO Autonomous Education Organisation
ASRK Agency of Statistics of Republic of Kazakhstan
CBR Country Background Report
CCFES Committee of Control in the Field of Education and Science
CEECIS Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States
EASA External Assessment of Student Achievement
ECEC Early Childhood Education and Care
ECTS European Credit Transfer System
EFA Education for All
FTE Full-time Equivalent
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GKP Gosudarstvennyye Kommunal’nyye Predpriyatiya – State Communal Enterprises
GU Gosudarstvennyye Uchrezhdeniya – State Institutions
IAC JSC Information-Analytic Center
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IEA International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement
IMF International Monetary Fund
MENA Middle East and North Africa
MESRK Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan
NCESE National Center for Educational Statistics and Evaluation
NCPD National Center of Professional Development
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NIS Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PIRLS Progress in International Reading Literacy Study
PISA OECD Programme for International Student Assessment
PPP Purchasing Power Parity
RK Republic of Kazakhstan
SABER Systems Approach for Better Educational Results
SPED State Program for Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan
for 2011-20
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
TALIS OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey
TDT Targeted Development Transfer
TIMSS IEA Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNT Unified National Test
VET Vocational Education and Training
WTO World Trade Organization

10 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 OECD Reviews of School Resources: Kazakhstan 2015
© OECD and The World Bank 2015

Executive summary

T he primary and secondary education system in Kazakhstan has accomplished

significant achievements. It has managed to reach almost universal access to primary and
secondary education, and few differences are observed in enrolment by geographical
location, socio-economic background and gender. Although the level of education
attainment of the population is high, the performance of Kazakh 15-year-olds in PISA
(Programme for International Student Assessment) 2012 suggests that there is
considerable room to improve the quality of student learning outcomes. In mathematics,
Kazakh students are on average two years behind their peers in OECD countries and about
45% of them are low performers, a proportion significantly above the OECD average (23%).
The language of instruction in schools, school location and the socio-economic
background of students and schools make a difference in student performance. National
and international assessments also suggest marked differences in educational outcomes
between urban and rural areas.
Kazakhstan has embarked on profound reforms to improve the quality of the
education system and is increasingly looking to international standards and best practices.
Reform initiatives include the expansion of the pre-primary education network, the
development of new mechanisms of school financing (including a new per capita funding
scheme), the creation of resource centres to support small-class schools, further
investment in school infrastructure and a wider use of information technologies in
schools. In this context of reforms, while there is an apparent desire to increase resources
devoted to education and awareness that spending per student remains markedly lower
than the OECD average and that of other neighbouring countries, there remains an official
reluctance to expand public expenditure on education. This is linked to concerns about
both the sector’s efficiency and its absorptive capacity. This report analyses the
effectiveness of the Kazakh school system and identifies policy areas with potential
efficiency gains or requiring further public investment.
The following policy priorities were identified to improve the effectiveness of resource
use in the Kazakh school system.

Increase overall public spending on education as the sector gains absorptive

capacity, while addressing key inefficiencies
Kazakhstan underinvests in education in comparison with other countries with
similar income. The lack of adequate resources is reflected at a range of levels such as low
enrolment rates in pre-primary education; poorly remunerated teachers; overcrowded
urban schools; and poorly equipped small-class schools. At the same time, there is
considerable scope for a more efficient management of resources in areas such as the

11
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

school network and the teaching workforce. A gradual increase in public spending is
needed to meet the ambitions set out in the sector’s strategic documents. Additional
resources should be prioritised where these can have the greatest impact: early
educational years and support to low performing and disadvantaged schools.
Achieving considerable efficiency gains and ensuring that additional resources are
well-spent, however, would require changes in governance structures. There is a need to
strengthen the capacity to effectively manage and monitor the use of resources across all
levels. In particular, insufficient local and school autonomy hinders effectiveness of
resource use. Schools and rayons (local authorities) have little flexibility to invest more in
human resources (by increasing staffing levels or by raising teacher salaries) if these are
more acutely needed, or alternatively to invest in physical resources (school buildings,
school equipment such as smart boards), if the present ones are insufficient or outdated.
In addition, local and regional governments have very little spending discretion as norms
determine how resources should be allocated and intergovernmental transfers have a very
limited equalisation effect. A gradual increase of autonomy coupled with accountability
and capacity building mechanisms could enable a more effective use of resources at the
local and school level.
The distribution of resources to schools is currently decided on a discretionary and
incremental basis by rayons in consideration of national norms but steps have been taken
towards the development of a per-student school funding scheme. This is a positive move
as a well-designed funding formula can, under certain conditions, be the most efficient,
equitable, stable and transparent method of funding schools. Before national roll-out, the
formula could be refined to take greater account of students’ needs, capture better
differences in class size across the country and increase its simplicity.

Review the organisation of the school network and lengthen the school day
A wide-ranging review of school network organisation could shed light on potential
expansions or downsizings of school facilities in light of demographic trends. A vision for
the provision of education in rural areas could be developed to improve the quality, equity
and efficiency of the large number of small-class schools, which are a result of a policy to
ensure universal access to compulsory schooling. Kazakhstan should sustain the efforts to
remove three-shift schools and explore ways to minimise the impact of double-shift
schools on younger students. There is also a need to adjust the norms for instructional
hours to be more in line with OECD averages for official instructional time, particularly for
students in grades 1-4. Having a relatively short school day, in terms of hours of
instruction, may place children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and
those who may be struggling, at risk of failure.

Support disadvantaged students and schools

More and more, the focus needs to shift towards providing education that promotes
equity by recognising and meeting different educational needs. There is no systematic
policy to support students who are falling behind. There is little provision of early support
to prevent students falling behind, with personalised and intensive intervention. A greater
focus on addressing underperformance is needed in Kazakhstan. Ensuring that schools
provide their students with adequate and timely support is essential to enable struggling
students not only to stay at school but to get the most out of their schooling years. Schools

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

should be encouraged to use early warning systems to identify students at risk and support
them as early as possible. This is in contrast with the overemphasis placed on
top-performing students. Also, schools in Kazakhstan appear to be making slow progress
in accommodating children with disabilities.

Improve teacher quality and school leadership

There is scope to strengthen the quality of teachers and school leaders. Professional
standards could be developed to clarify expectations of what systems of initial education
and professional development should aim to achieve, serve as a framework for the
selection of candidates in recruitment processes, offer the credible reference for making
judgements about their competence, guide professional development, and provide the
basis for career advancement. Initial teacher education and professional development
opportunities could be reviewed to ensure that these provide a solid foundation for
teachers and adequately respond to their needs. In the case of school leaders,
improvements in their recruitment, professional development and appraisal are needed to
tap into their potential role in leading school improvement.
There is an imperative need to reconsider the number of staff and their remuneration.
Current student-teacher ratios indicate that there might be some oversupply of teachers in
the system. Increasing student-teacher ratios and class sizes could free up resources to
further invest in teachers’ professionalisation and remuneration. Also, the concept of
teacher employment, whereby basic compensation is associated uniquely to the teacher’s
teaching load (stavka system), is a source of concern as it does not appropriately recognise
the many tasks a teacher accomplishes beyond teaching and reduces his or her
engagement in school activities. As a result, teacher employment needs to be
re-conceptualised and the stavka system should be discontinued. The objective is to raise
the professionalism of teachers, which can also be supported by better and more restricted
selection into the profession and possibly fewer teachers with better salaries.

Use evaluation and information systems to foster improvement

and accountability
Kazakhstan recognises the importance of teacher and school evaluation but there is
scope to strike a better balance between the currently prevailing accountability function
and the improvement one. Clearly, there needs to be a stronger emphasis on teacher and
school evaluation for development purposes, where evaluation results lead to genuine
professional discussions about effective teaching and teachers and schools receive advice
for the improvement of pedagogical practices.
There is ample room to improve the external and independent monitoring systems of
Kazakhstan’s education system. The current monitoring approach is compliance-driven
and entails no analysis of educational performance. As such, it is limited in the way it
evaluates efficiency, equity, and value for money. An external independent monitoring
system for school resource use should be a priority. External and independent bodies
would strengthen the analysis of the ample data generated by existing monitoring
systems. Enhancing the transparency and reporting framework is also likely to help reduce
the opportunities for misallocation of resources and corruption that exist throughout the
system, although a complementary policy to reduce loopholes in the system of norms is
also needed.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The improvement of data collection systems and practices is also needed. In

particular, procedures to ensure the quality of the data should be introduced at every step
of the collection and processing of the data. Furthermore, Kazakhstan needs to improve
the dissemination of information about activities at the school and local levels, including
information on school and local education budgets. This could include school attestation
reports. Similarly, school principals should disseminate their schools’ activity reports and
financial plans, in accessible language, by posting them on the web or on school bulletin
boards, thus increasing transparency. Also, the existence of school Boards of Trustees,
while still a nascent change, opens up avenues for improved transparency and reporting
procedures at the school level.

14 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 OECD Reviews of School Resources: Kazakhstan 2015
© OECD and The World Bank 2015

Assessment and Recommendations

Education system context

The primary and secondary education system in Kazakhstan has accomplished
significant achievements. It has managed to reach almost universal access to primary and
secondary education, and few differences are observed in enrolment by geographical
location, socio-economic background and gender. Although the level of education
attainment of the population is high, the performance of Kazakh 15-year-olds in PISA
(Programme for International Student Assessment) 2012 suggests that there is
considerable room to improve the quality of student learning outcomes. In mathematics,
Kazakh students are on average two years behind their peers in OECD countries and about
45% of them are low performers, a proportion significantly above the OECD average (23%).
The language of instruction in schools, school location, and the socio-economic
background of students and schools make a difference in student performance. National
and international assessments also suggest marked differences in educational outcomes
between urban and rural areas.
Kazakhstan has embarked on profound reforms to improve the quality of the
education system and is increasingly looking to international standards and best practices.
Reform initiatives include the expansion of the pre-primary education network, the
development of new mechanisms of school financing (including a new per capita funding
scheme), the creation of resource centres to support small-class schools, further
investment in school infrastructure and a wider use of information technologies in
schools. In this context of reforms, while there is an apparent desire to increase resources
devoted to education and awareness that spending per student remains markedly lower
than the OECD average and that of other neighbouring countries, there remains an official
reluctance to expand public expenditure on education. This is linked to concerns about
both the sector’s efficiency and its absorptive capacity. This report analyses the
effectiveness of the Kazakh school system and identifies policy areas with potential
efficiency gains or requiring further public investment. The following policy priorities were
identified to improve the effectiveness of resource use in the Kazakh school system.

Strengths and challenges

There are clear directions for the system but limited capacity
to foster greater effectiveness
Grand vision plans place education as one of the top priorities in Kazakhstan and a
strategic programme sets out ambitious reforms to boost the quality of the education
system. Some of the recent flagship initiatives include the introduction of a per student
financing scheme and the extension of the number of compulsory schooling years.
Improving the capacity of the education administration is one of the major challenges

15
ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

ahead to build a more effective education system. At the national level, several steps have
been taken in recent years to reinforce the capacity in the Ministry or create specialised
agencies to, for example, promote compliance with operational norms and analyse
educational and financial data.
The extensive central planning and a detailed system of norms are two key features of
the Kazakh education governance system inherited from Soviet times, which provide a
clear direction for the sector, policy continuity and enable monitoring progress towards the
achievement of policy goals. However, norms constrain the ability of schools and local
governments to match resources to their specific needs, and in consideration of their
conditions and context. Schools and local authorities (rayons) have little flexibility to invest
more in human resources (by increasing staffing levels or raising teacher salaries) if these
are more acutely needed, or alternatively to invest in physical resources (school buildings,
school equipment such as smart boards), if the existing ones are insufficient or outdated.
Overall, local and regional governments have very little spending discretion as norms
determine how resources should be allocated and intergovernmental transfers have a very
limited equalisation effect. Another issue of concern is the lack of consultation with
stakeholders, which means that education strategies might not fully reflect the rich
diversity of the country.

Spending on education is relatively low

The overall level of public resources devoted to education is low compared to the OECD
average as well as to that of other countries with similar levels of economic development.
The amount devoted to school education, 2.1% of GDP, is considerably below the OECD
average of 3.6%, although the latter also encompasses post-secondary non-tertiary
expenditures. At 11% of GDP per capita, Kazakhstan’s 2013 public spending per student
was significantly below the OECD average. The lack of adequate resources in schools can
hamper the quality of learning environments. While larger education budgets are no
guarantee of better education quality, a minimum level of spending is necessary for
ensuring good quality education provision. A school system that lacks quality teachers,
adequate infrastructure and enough textbooks will almost certainly fail to promote quality
education. Underinvestment in the school system can also result in educational
inequalities, as disadvantaged areas or schools receive scarcer resources. The government
is aware that public spending is low but concerns about both the sector’s efficiency and its
absorptive capacity prevent increases.

The per student funding formula is a positive move ahead that requires
further development
The distribution of resources to schools is currently decided on a discretionary and
incremental basis by rayons in consideration of national norms but steps have been taken
towards the development of a per-student school funding scheme. This is a positive move
as a well-designed funding formula can, under certain conditions, be the most efficient,
equitable, stable and transparent method of funding schools. The scheme under piloting
in 2014 has considerable scope for improvement. For instance, the envisaged new funding
scheme provides no room for local governments to adjust the allocations to local needs
and excludes some types of schools (e.g. gifted, small-class schools). Also, the formula
proposed does not clearly identify groups of students for whom additional per student
amounts should be allocated, which means that it cannot be considered a genuine per

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 ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

student formula. Despite the fact that the formula is overly complex, it might not capture
with enough accuracy class size, which greatly varies in Kazakhstan and strongly
influences the costs of provision. Furthermore, there are also indications that the
development of the new scheme would benefit from a broader timeline and a thorough
analysis of its impact before national roll-out.

The specific needs of disadvantaged students and schools need to be taken

into consideration
The limited attention to the specific needs of students and schools in the distribution
of resources results in inequities. There are very few programmes and resources targeted
at students from a disadvantaged background or with learning difficulties. This is partly
explained because the current concept of disadvantage is too narrow as it focuses only on
disabilities and extreme socio-economic disadvantage, and thus a relatively small number
of students are entitled to receive support. In contrast, OECD countries recognise that
schools with higher proportions of disadvantaged students are at greater odds of suffering
from a myriad of social and economic problems that can inhibit student learning and have
developed mechanisms to support them. This means that, for example, schools might not
have enough resources to adequately support students who are falling behind with
personalised and intensive early intervention. The case of students with special needs and
disabilities is of particular concern as most of them continue to be educated in separate
“correctional” schools or home learning schemes rather than in mainstream schools.
The overemphasis on preparing top-performing students for participation in
academic Olympiads and prioritising “gifted children” is detrimental to other students.
Teachers might focus on higher performing students and thereby direct less effort to lower
performing students. Schools tend to group students by ability, a practice that doesn’t
improve the overall performance and can be particularly harmful if lower quality teachers
are allocated to lower performing children. In addition, schools that cater to gifted
students, such as the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, receive considerably higher levels of
funding than mainstream schools. It can be questioned, however, whether the most
talented students of the country attend these schools as disadvantaged students have
more limited access to extracurricular classes to prepare for admission. Moreover, the
proportion of top-performing students in international assessments remains very small
while a large number are falling behind their peers in other countries. The most rapidly
improving education systems in PISA show that improvements at the top and bottom of
the performance scale can go hand in hand. However, it is reductions in the number of low
performing students which are particularly effective to raise the overall performance of the
system.

The extensive school network raises concerns

A distinctive feature of the school network is its large geographical coverage as a result
of a strong policy to ensure universal access to compulsory schooling. The large number of
small-class schools, which account for half of all public schools, might not be the most
cost-effective option to deliver education services in rural and remote areas. In addition,
students in small-class schools tend to suffer from poorer learning environments. Some
evidence suggests that the teaching quality in small-class schools, as measured by
teachers’ professional category and highest qualification, is significantly lower than in
other schools. In addition, the strict application of staffing norms squeezes school budgets

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ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

as low student-to-teacher ratios are at the expense of either the quality of teachers,
maintenance, equipment and instructional materials. To respond to the challenge of
small-class schools, the Ministry of Education and Science has created resource centres to
support them but a clear strategic vision or plans for consolidation have not been
developed yet.
The extensive school network also results in a large number of sparsely populated
school buildings which are very costly to maintain. Considerable efforts have been
undertaken in recent years to upgrade school infrastructure and address the chronic
underinvestment in maintenance of schools which left many buildings in need of
modernisation. In spite of this, several challenges remain. Old buildings that fail to heat
properly in the winter, or are too expensive to heat, threaten students’ health and ability to
learn in one of the world’s coldest climates. Schools that lack basic equipment,
instructional materials or without indoor toilets are alarmingly common in rural areas. In
areas with declining student rolls, school facilities that were built for a larger student
population are not being used to their full capacity and require high maintenance costs. In
contrast, in urban areas, two-shift schools are the norm and three-shift schools are still in
some parts of the country.

There are concerns about teacher and school leader preparation

The lack of national standards for teachers and school leaders, which provide a clear
and concise statement or profile of what they are expected to know and be able to do,
hinders their potential. Teaching and school leadership standards can be useful
mechanisms for clarifying expectations of what systems of initial education and
professional development should aim to achieve, serving as a framework for the selection
of candidates in recruitment processes, offering the credible reference for making
judgements about their competence (as in their attestation), guiding professional
development, and providing the basis for career advancement.
Initial teacher education raises both quality and efficiency concerns. The fact that the
required degree for primary-school teaching can be obtained at the secondary and
post-secondary non-tertiary level and that there is an oversupply of initial teacher
education programmes raise concerns about its quality. There are also indications of an
oversupply of graduates, which in 2013 corresponded to 11.4% of the entire teaching
workforce. Other concerns relate to the high level of specialisation of degrees which limits
the flexibility of the teacher labour market, the lack of specific assessments to identify
teaching potential and assess motivation for the profession as the basis for entry, and the
limited autonomy of institutions of teacher education in designing their teacher education
programmes as these are regulated at the central level (e.g. specialisations, curriculum,
structure of programmes).
There are indications that the current framework for teacher professional
development is not responding adequately to teachers’ needs. The frequency of
professional development is questionable, as teachers are only elig ible for
external-to-the-school professional development activities once every five years.
Incentives to engage in professional development seem to be increasingly related to salary
increases and career advancement rather than the genuine improvement of teaching
practices. In spite of this, the frequency and intensity of school-based professional
development opportunities in Kazakhstan seems to be significant and school principals
play a greater role in instructional leadership than on average in OECD countries.

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 ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

There is scope to better recruit and prepare school leaders to foster school
improvement
The formal allocation of school leadership responsibilities among several staff is a
strength of the Kazakh school system as strategic and pedagogical leadership cannot be
exercised over time by one person alone. In practice, however, the distribution is dictated
by norms and the level of interaction and shared vision is questionable. Moreover, school
leaders might not be sufficiently focused and prepared to foster school improvement.
Recruitment focuses on their educational qualifications and experience rather than
leadership ability. Few opportunities exist to take up professional development and most
of them are disconnected from their daily practice in schools. Lack of professional
development opportunities is of concern as a large proportion has been in the system for a
long time and might face difficulties in keeping up with current practices.

There is a need to reconsider the number of staff and their remuneration

Analysis of class size and student-teacher ratios as well as of the structure of
leadership teams in Kazakhstan provides indications that, compared to the situation in
OECD countries, the overall number of teachers and school leaders can be considered
excessive. The large number of teachers and school leaders is driven by the significant
proportion of small-class schools in the country and strict staffing norms. The large
number of staff squeezes school budgets, creates rigidities and crowds out investments in
other areas. About 93% of school expenditure in rural schools is devoted to staff
compensation. This means that budgets are very tight and that principals have very
limited room for manoeuvre to manage resources in a more efficient way or invest in
school development activities. In particular, the large number of staff discourages
improvements in their compensation which is considered low in Kazakhstan, although the
complexity of the teacher salary structure hinders its analysis. The definition of class sizes
is a recurrent trade-off that has a great impact on expenditure due to the labour-intensive
nature of education: small class sizes require a large number of teachers whilst greater
class sizes can free up resources to improve teaching quality. Research has found that
higher teaching quality has a greater impact on student achievement than smaller classes.
Another issue relates to the concept of teacher employment, whereby basic compensation
is associated purely to the teacher’s teaching load (stavka system), and might not
appropriately recognise the many tasks a teacher accomplishes beyond teaching and his or
her engagement in school activities (e.g. reflection on own practices, mentoring of less
experienced teachers, communication with parents and professional development).

The official instruction time might be insufficient, particularly for disadvantaged

students
In Kazakhstan, the official instructional time is provided with few disruptions and
complemented with widespread after-school activities. Classes are orderly, without loss of
time due to student behaviour or teacher absenteeism. However, there are some concerns
about the management of instructional time: multi-shift teaching, which is prevalent in
Kazakhstan, might reduce the official instructional time; the school calendar is not
adjusted to local conditions and needs; and instructional time for students in primary
grades may be inadequate for students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. While
increasing the amount of time, alone, cannot guarantee improved student learning,
insufficient time spent on early learning may account for lower achievement.

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 19
ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The introduction of teacher and school evaluation processes is a positive move

that can be further strengthened
Teachers benefit from a clearly established career structure with four steps associated
with a teacher certification (or attestation) process. The existence of a teacher attestation
process conveys the important message that the guiding principle for career advancement
is merit and can provide incentives for teachers to perform at their best, bring recognition
to effective teachers, support professional learning, and help recognise and spread good
practice more widely. However, the combination of the accountability and developmental
functions in a single process of teacher evaluation raises a number of challenges. The
accountability function often prevails when teachers are confronted with high-stakes
consequences as they are less likely to reveal weak aspects of their practice. Moreover, the
evaluation process is not clearly linked to professional development opportunities to
improve teacher performance and, as a result, might be perceived as a meaningless
exercise that encounters mistrust or apathy. The lack of teaching standards can also
hamper the consistency of internal teacher evaluation processes across schools and the
inability of the system to ensure the quality of such processes.
There is a clear commitment to accountability with a regular cycle of external school
evaluations. Some aspects of the approach to external school evaluation are adequately
designed such as its structured approach and the consideration of a broad array of
evidence including classroom observation. There is, however, scope for further refinement
as there is limited attention to the developmental function of school evaluation. The
external school evaluation is predominantly an assessment of how legal requirements are
met, or how stipulations in the education standards are being fulfilled. There is not enough
focus on school improvement strategies and follow-up is limited to schools which are not
granted the attestation in their original evaluation. Also, school self-evaluation has not
been recognised as a key instrument for school improvement yet and its penetration across
the school system remains at an early stage of development.
A problematic issue in Kazakhstan is the use of raw student achievement data
(i.e. results of standardised assessments such as the Unified National Test (UNT), student
prizes at Olympiads and other competitions) to judge and compare the performance of
individual teachers, schools, rayons and regions. UNT results or results in Olympiads carry
much more than the impact of the evaluated teacher and also reflect, for instance, the
impact of the student’s family, the student’s previous learning or school and local
resources. Clearly, this leads to unfair comparisons as it puts certain teachers – such as
those in more advantaged schools – at an advantage vis-à-vis other teachers in terms of
receiving a positive evaluation. The same happens at the school, local (rayon) and regional
(oblast) level. Comparisons between teachers, schools, rayons and oblasts are of little use if
not conducted on a “like-with-like” basis and can encourage strategic responses such as
“teaching to the test” and “narrowing of the curriculum”.

More reliable data, transparency and accountability could enable a more effective
management of school resources
Increased attention has been paid to creating, collecting and making data available.
Numerous data collection exercises exist (administrative, performance, stakeholder
surveys, indicators). Recent positive developments include the creation of a national
database of education information, the computerisation of data collection processes, and
the reduction of the administrative burden of data collection that falls on schools and local

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 ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

authorities by more than halving the number of forms to be filled out from 467 to 162.
However, a recurrent problem with education data in Kazakhstan is the lack of processes
to ensure their quality and validity. This is of concern as lack of reliable data impedes its
use in the formulation and evaluation of education policies.
The existence of detailed norms provides clear expectations for what should be
achieved and how resources should be managed, and thus facilitates their monitoring.
There are multiple mechanisms to check compliance and gauge progress towards national
objectives, notably the State Program for Education Development in the Republic of
Kazakhstan 2011-20 (SPED). However, the monitoring approach is compliance-driven and
does not entail analysis of educational performance. Similarly, the control of budget
implementation is inadequate and lacks transparency, as detailed and accurate cost
estimates are rare. Moreover, an independent and external evaluation agency that
strengthens the analysis of the ample data generated by existing monitoring systems does
not exist. As a result, there is a general lack of high quality cost-benefit analyses of
different educational policies and programmes at school and educational authority levels,
meaning that schools and governments often make decisions with minimal attention to
the efficiency or effectiveness of their likely education outcomes.
Greater transparency is also an important challenge ahead in order to increase
accountability. Budget transparency is lacking at the local level as the majority of schools
do not have their own budgets due to centralised accounting; and budget information is
generally not disclosed to parents and the principal. At the national level, limited
information and detail is disclosed on the national government’s budget and financial
activities. Weak transparency and accountability mechanisms open up opportunities for
corruption and misuse of resources at different levels of the education system. These can
jeopardise efficiency and performance, damage the most disadvantaged in particular and
fuel attitudes and values such as favouritism, bribery, and fraud. Similarly, the involvement
of parents and other key stakeholders in fostering school improvement and holding the
school accountable is still incipient. Reports on the annual activities and results of the
attestation process of schools are not currently published and widely disseminated. The
creation of Boards of Trustees opens up avenues for improved transparency and reporting
procedures at the school level, but their roles are still unclear.

Policy recommendations
Increase overall public spending on education, while addressing key efficiency concerns
A gradual expansion of public spending should be envisaged to meet the ambitious
sector’s strategic plans and lean towards OECD standards (5-6% of GDP). Additional funds
need to be spent wisely and go alongside improving the efficiency of public funds’ use.
Investments should be prioritised to the early educational years as well as to equity- and
quality-enhancing aspects. Another priority should be the strengthening of the
performance monitoring and accountability mechanisms in the education system. Also,
the budget envelope should be increased only slowly, in parallel with the increase of the
capacity of the system to absorb new programmes and new approaches.

Redesign the system of intergovernmental transfers

Kazakhstan should explore how to further reform the system of intergovernmental
transfers in order to improve its efficiency and equity. Specific areas to consider affecting
the education sector include: (i) ensuring a clearer distribution of responsibilities for

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ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

education financing across levels of government; (ii) using formulas with transparent
indicators and coefficients to allocate resources; (iii) enabling greater equalisation of
resources across oblasts and rayons to ensure that poorer areas receive adequate financing
to provide high-quality education services; and (iv) introducing specific reporting
categories in the budget classification to ensure that various targeted funds and off-budget
resources are adequately and fully reported and accounted for.

Explore ways to gradually increase local and school autonomy

Kazakhstan can explore ways to gradually provide more autonomy to schools and
lower levels of government to enable them to foster improvements in education. Certain
decisions are best left to local authorities and school principals, who best know their
schools’ needs, to ensure a more optimal allocation of resources. More autonomy would
imply relaxing the current system of norms, which could be used to set minimum
standards rather than detailed mandates. Increased autonomy is likely to exacerbate the
existing differences between schools and local governments, and mechanisms to
disseminate best practices and support those who need to improve should be introduced.
In this regard, it will be necessary to strengthen the improvement function of the school
evaluation system.

Sustain the efforts to increase capacity and move towards evidence-based planning
and monitoring
Kazakhstan needs to develop a culture of using evidence and evaluation as the basis
for future reform initiatives, both in the design phase (when analysing what type of
reforms are required) and in the implementation phase (when deciding on the best way of
putting reform concepts into practice). The best way to start this type of reflection is by
reviewing the experience of recent policy initiatives and obtaining and publishing the
assessment of the successes and limitations encountered in their implementation. The
current major policy initiatives should be reviewed. The impact of the per-capita financing
pilot, Boards of Trustees, resource centres for small-class schools, e-learning, and other
initiatives should be analysed and the results of these analyses shared with a broad range
of stakeholders throughout the education system. Evidence gathered from these reviews
should be published and used as a basis for professional discussions regarding future
steering of reform initiatives.

Give greater attention to low performing and disadvantaged students and schools
Enhancing equality of educational opportunity requires additional emphasis on
improving the performance of disadvantaged students. A rebalancing of resource provision
between initiatives catering to elite students and everybody else is needed. In particular,
little rationale exists for heavy public investment into the training of elite students for
academic Olympiads. Limited public resources should instead be concentrated on the
majority of students, as well as those who fall behind academically. Concrete policy
measures to address this challenge include broadening the concept of disadvantage to
ensure that all children receive a basic minimum quality of education, reviewing the equity
of the current distribution of resources and providing greater funding for low performing
or disadvantaged students.

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 ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Schools should be encouraged to identify and support such students as early as

possible. Once identified, a systemic policy should also be implemented to support these
students throughout their academic life cycle. This may imply the need for additional
resources to target schools, classes, or individual students at risk of falling behind.
Expectations for all students should be raised system-wide, and grouping of students into
separate classes by ability should be discouraged. Every student should be given the
support and opportunity to reach his or her full potential with those falling behind
receiving additional mentoring or coaching. Special attention should also be paid to
students at risk of dropping out and proactive policies should be put in place to mitigate
that risk.

Postpone and refine the roll-out of school formula funding

The national roll-out of the new envisaged funding scheme should be postponed until
the new mechanisms have been refined. Adequate preparation for the rollout of a new
funding scheme is a necessary condition for its success. An in-depth study of the pilot
should be conducted and its results published and publicly discussed. The findings should
be used to define a new funding scheme, which should then be developed with reliance on
the existing international experience. For the pilot project itself, proper monitoring
procedures by an agency different from the one implementing it need to be introduced.

Improve the organisation of the school network

A national vision for education provision in rural areas should be developed. The
current reliance on small-class schools scattered across Kazakhstan’s vast rural areas is
unsustainable and leads to serious concerns about its quality, equity and efficiency. The
strategy should have four main pillars: (i) a national strategic direction and plan to
consolidate some small-class schools; (ii) greater flexibility to allow rural schools to
manage their resources more efficiently; (iii) greater equity and fairness in the distribution
of resources to rural schools; and (iv) mechanisms to monitor the quality of education in
small-class schools. The current initiative to use resource centres in order to support
small-class schools needs to be independently reviewed and assessed.

Improve the management of human resources

Kazakhstan should take steps towards the development of a high quality teaching and
leadership force. First, there is a need to raise the bar to enter the profession by introducing
interviews and tests to assess the aptitude and motivation of candidates. The number of
places in initial teacher education could be limited to levels closer to the needs of the
school system. Second, it is also imperative to improve the quality of initial teacher
education programmes and institutions and require a higher education qualification to
enter the teaching profession at all educational levels. The number of teacher
specialisations should be reduced to enable teachers to teach multiple subjects, and in this
way allow efficiencies in the management of human resources. Third, the development
and wide dissemination of standards for teachers and school leaders are key to ensure a
common understanding of what it means to be a good teacher or school leader in
Kazakhstan. Finally, moving from a concept of teacher employment whereby compensation
is based on a teaching load to a concept whereby compensation is based on a work load
could be an important first step to improve teacher professionalism. The overall number of
staff employed as well as their compensation level also needs to be reconsidered.

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ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Provide structured, regular and meaningful opportunities for professional

development for teachers and school leaders
There is a clear need for professional development to become a more regular practice
among teachers in Kazakhstan, with a greater diversity of activities, led by school
development plans and with a supply which reflects teachers’ developmental needs. There
must be a recognised and explicitly stated definition of what constitutes good teaching,
and teachers should be encouraged and empowered to reach those goals. A systemic
approach to the development of school leaders is also needed. A diagnosis of the skills of
current leaders can help inform the next steps in identifying professional development
needs for current and future leaders. This is particularly important in light of the planned
rollout of the new school financing mechanism, which will require greater capacity on the
part of school leaders to understand the principles of financial management.

Review the use of learning time in schools

Kazakhstan should sustain the efforts to remove three-shift schools and explore ways
to minimise the impact of double-shift schools on younger students. In multi-shift schools,
all primary grades should be taught during the first shift, which would have the result of
benefitting both the younger students and the older students whose learning is enhanced
by starting school later in the day. While multi-shift schooling can facilitate access to
education when rapid demographic changes stress existing facilities or the construction of
new schools is difficult, it can have a negative impact on the quality of learning.
Kazakhstan should also adjust the norms for instructional hours to be more in line
with OECD averages for official instructional time, particularly for students in grades 1-4.
Having a relatively short school day in terms of hours of instruction may place children,
particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who may be struggling, at
risk of failure. Lengthening the school day has been found to benefit young learners.
Schools could also be encouraged to explore different ways of organising the learning time
in the school. Different learning time options can include the organisation of after-school
and holiday programmes, study support or breakfast clubs, or take other forms.

Encourage greater participation of the school community and more collaboration

between schools
A greater scope for the involvement of parents and other key stakeholders in holding
schools accountable and fostering further educational improvements exists. The
expansion of the use of Boards of Trustees is a step in the right direction. However, multiple
channels can be made available for parents and community members to more actively
participate in school life. The use of school facilities by the broader community, for
example, is uneven; despite few legal prohibitions, school leaders are either unwilling or
unable to maximise the use of their facilities for communal use. Greater collaboration
between schools and the community, as well as among schools, could also facilitate a more
effective use of resources in Kazakhstan. School leaders could be encouraged to take a
more active role in collaborating with other schools and fostering the improvement of the
broader education system, including through the use of shared facilities, staff, and
equipment.

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 ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Use teacher, school leader and school evaluation to foster the improvement
of practices
Evaluation and assessment practices can be strengthened in several areas to enhance
the effectiveness of resource use. First, the developmental function of teacher attestation
can be strengthened. A process internal to the school, carried out by line leaders, senior
peers, and school management, which accounts for the school objectives and context,
should become systematic in all schools. The main outcome would be feedback on
teaching performance which would lead to an individual plan for professional
development for each teacher in the school. An external validation of this internal process
would then take place to ensure the soundness of the respective school’s processes.
Second, all school leaders should be required to undergo a meaningful appraisal exercise.
This would involve designing specific criteria, guidelines and consequences for the
appraisal system. It should provide school leaders with feedback to foster improvement,
recognise their achievement and identify those that might need more support. To be
effective, the appraisal should be well-rounded rather than based in narrow measures of
school performance. Also, more rigorous processes to inform professional development
opportunities as well as recognise performance are needed.
School evaluation should become a key lever for sustained improvement in schools.
External school evaluation processes should strengthen their focus on school development
and move away from the current compliance-driven model. This could involve the
separation of school attestation into two detached processes: (i) external evaluation
focussing on teaching and learning processes at the school; and (ii) an audit process to assess
the school’s compliance with regulations, possibly including financial regulations. The
external evaluation focussing on teaching and learning processes would involve providing
advice for improvement to each school on the basis of transparent, nationally agreed criteria.
Processes to organise external evaluations could also be made more efficient than is
currently the case in Kazakhstan by considerably reducing the size of evaluation
commissions, simplifying the content and structure of the evaluation report, reducing the
paperwork involved and ensuring the school’s self-evaluation report feeds into its own
self-improvement process. Identifying and disseminating good practices and strengthening
the schools’ self-evaluation process are two additional areas in which further refinement is
needed to bring Kazakhstan closer to evaluation practices common in OECD countries.
Contextual information on schools should be developed and published alongside
student results. It is recommended that any publication of UNT results at the school level
should be presented in ways that take account of underlying differences including, for
example, the socio-economic background of students. Also, it needs to be recognised that
the UNT, as mostly a higher education entrance examination, has not been designed to
evaluate individual schools and is taken on a voluntary basis by students who want to
enter higher education. It is therefore unclear whether such tests can actually capture the
value each school has added to the learning of its students, which raises questions about
the interest of their publication at the school level.

Introduce incentives to encourage a more effective use of resources

Moving from the present system of mandatory norms to a system of effective
incentives that encourage efficiency is a difficult process. Still a gradual transition away
from a compliance mentality to one that emphasises creative problem-solving and greater
autonomy in decision making is needed. By relaxing the current system of prescriptive

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ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

norms, education authorities at all levels can be empowered to use resources to address their
most pressing issues in the ways that make sense given the local conditions. In the short
term, this can be encouraged by allocating a specific freely disposable budget amount to be
used according to each school’s own priorities. Any savings generated in previous years may
be rolled over as contributions to this freely disposable amount. Further efforts are needed to
implement performance-based budgeting, which provides incentives for greater efficiencies
in resource use and holds budget holders accountable for the results they achieve.

Improve monitoring mechanisms and data collection

The development of external and independent monitoring systems would strengthen
the current monitoring framework in the Kazakhstan education sector. Once such systems
are in place, benchmarking and monitoring indicators of school resource use would allow
national authorities to rapidly assess the education system, leading to improved policy
planning and implementation. External and independent bodies would strengthen the
analysis of the ample data generated by existing monitoring systems.
At the same time, improvement of data collection systems and practices is also
needed. In particular, a unified Education Management Information System for the sector
should allow for in-depth analysis of school-level information by policymakers to inform
resource allocation decisions. Procedures to ensure the quality of the data should be
strengthened to improve their validity and reliability.
Lastly, the financial reporting arrangement between levels of government can be
strengthened. National education authorities should have a clear view of the total amount
of resources, both public and private, spent on the education sector. This information
should be readily available by sub-sector (i.e. pre-primary, general secondary, vocational,
etc.), expenditure type, and detailed geographic designation of where the money is spent.
Analysts at the Ministry of Education and Science – and indeed at all levels of the education
system – should be able to compare per student expenditure amounts, class sizes, staffing
levels, and other relevant indicators with stated Government priorities to judge the
allocative efficiency of resource use.

Analyse the effectiveness of resource use

Stronger analytical capacity would ensure that the Government is able to implement
the designed policy changes more effectively. By enhancing analytical capacity in
accounting, budgeting, monitoring, and supervision, Kazakhstan’s policymakers could do
more to base their decisions on information regarding resource use. While the current
monitoring system is heavy on quantitative indicators embedded in the State Program for
Education Development 2011-20 (SPED), it does little in the way of measuring the
effectiveness of resource use in relation to performance. At the subnational level little
performance-based monitoring takes place. A budgeting process that is better informed by
the tracking of relevant outcomes at all levels of the education system will go a long way to
increasing the effectiveness of resource use.

Proactively disclose information and increase transparency

Kazakhstan needs to improve dissemination of information about activities at the
school and local levels, including information on school and local education budgets.
While dissemination of reports may be viewed as another burden in the reporting process,
school oversight bodies should consider using a single nationally-developed format to

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 ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

ensure that parents and voters know how schools operate in their community and how
school resources are used. This could consist in the publication of school attestation
reports (or parts of them) in language accessible to the wider public. This publication
should avoid publishing private information as, for example, the identification of those
individuals liable for the violations demonstrated in the school attestation report.
Similarly, school principals should disseminate their school’s activity reports and financial
plans, in accessible language, by posting them on the web or on school bulletin boards,
thus increasing transparency.
The usefulness of Boards of Trustees can be further enhanced through the training of
their members to build capacity on educational resource use issues. Boards of Trustees
should receive greater guidance from national and local authorities regarding their
mandates and particular care should be taken in the selection of their members as the
Boards would require a range of competencies. Capacity development efforts should focus
on increasing the knowledge of the Boards in areas such as: (i) understanding existing
transparency and reporting mechanisms; (ii) monitoring school resource use; (iii) operating
independently from local authorities; and (iv) understanding equity and efficiency issues
in education resource use.

Tackle and reduce opportunities for corruption

Reducing opportunities for misuse of resources and corruption should be an urgent
priority. A holistic approach requires a balance between monitoring the compliance with
the rules governing resource use and the implementation of adequate transparency and
reporting frameworks. Promoting integrity in public life and encouraging all stakeholders
to root out acts of fraud and corruption are key policy initiatives to be considered. To tackle
opportunities for corruption, authorities must identify the causes of corruption, raise
awareness and encourage whistleblowing, and close existing loopholes in the system of
norms that allow for potential misuse of funds.

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OECD Reviews of School Resources: Kazakhstan 2015
© OECD and The World Bank 2015

Chapter 1

School education in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has a highly centralised top-down system that leaves little political,
administrative and fiscal authority to lower levels of a clearly delineated hierarchy. This is
reflected in the education system, which is characterised by an extensive system of planning
and norms. Kazakhstan uses national strategic planning to broadly set out a vision for the
country, but also to regulate every aspect of the education system at the central level. A number
of strategies and planning documents, notably the State Program for Education Development
in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-20 (SPED), ensure consistency and guide policymaking.
The Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan plays an important role in
the definition of education strategies and in the development of key initiatives while the
Ministry of Education and Science concentrates on the design of policies to implement education
strategies. Regions (oblasts) and districts (rayons) are responsible for the delivery of
education services in schools. Primary and secondary education is compulsory in Kazakhstan
and students are entitled to attend a public school free of charge. Attendance is almost
universal at these two levels, which contrasts with low attendance rates in pre-primary
education. The size and location of schools are key distinctive features of the Kazakh school
network. Urban schools tend to suffer from a shortage of student places and operate in multiple
shifts. In contrast, low density of population and a policy that favours universal access have
resulted in a large number of small-class schools (about 50% of all schools). Student learning
outcomes, as measured by PISA, are considerably below the OECD average. The difference in
the mean performance in mathematics suggests that Kazakh 15-year-olds are on average two
years behind their peers in OECD countries. According to PISA data, the language of
instruction in schools (Kazakh or Russian), school location (urban or rural), and the
socio-economic background of students and schools make a difference in students’
performance. The reform agenda for the education sector is ambitious and a number of
important initiatives are underway such as the expansion of the pre-primary network, the
introduction of a per capita funding scheme for schools and the establishment of a twelfth
grade in school education.

The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli
authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights,
East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.

29
1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Context
Geographic and demographic characteristics
Located in Central Asia, Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world by land
surface, equivalent to more than twice the combined size of France, Germany and Poland.
The country is bordered by Russia in the North, the Caspian Sea in the West, China in the
South-East, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the South, and Turkmenistan in the South-West.
The population of Kazakhstan amounted to 17 million people in 2013. A big surface and
small population result in a low density of population, which was estimated at 6.2 persons
per square km in 2013 (IAC, 2014).
Natural conditions considerably influence the provision and costs of education in
some areas. Kazakhstan has extreme temperatures, which range from an average of over
30°C in the summer to an average of −20°C in the winter. More than half of the country,
including the entire west and most of the south, is either semi-desert (12% of the surface)
or desert (44%). Serious environmental concerns also affect the provision of education and
well-being of children in former nuclear, industrial or mining sites, as well as with land
degradation, desertification, and water scarcity problems.
The population pyramid of Kazakhstan presents many irregularities (see Annex 1.A1).
With a quarter of the population school-aged, the Kazakh school system has to
accommodate more children than the average OECD country, where less than one-fifth of
the population is under 15 years old. Although fertility rates have now stabilised at 2.5
births per woman during her lifetime, past fluctuations, from drastic reductions in
the 1990s to a peak of 2.7 in 2008, has led to challenges for school rolls.
Population trends are not homogenous across the country: the northern areas are
experiencing a decline while in the south there is a baby boom. East-Kazakhstan, Kostanay
and Karaganda, North and West Kazakhstan, Akmola and Pavlodar have experienced
population decreases in the period 1999-2009, and North Kazakhstan has seen its number
of inhabitants reduced by 18%. In contrast, the population has increased by more than 20%
in the regions of Mangystau, South Kazakhstan and the cities of Astana and Almaty during
this period. In 2013, more than half of the population (9.4 million) lived in urban areas and
an increasing trend towards urbanisation was observed (IAC, 2014). The most urbanised
regions were Karaganda (79% of urban population), Pavlodar (70%), Aktobe (62%) and East
Kazakhstan (59%). In contrast, the rural population was concentrated in Almaty (77% of
rural population), South Kazakhstan (61%), Zhambyl (60%), North Kazakhstan (58%) and
Kyzylorda (57%).
Schools in Kazakhstan reflect the rich diversity existing in the country in terms of
ethnicity, religion and language. The education system caters to students from 23 different
ethnicities. Ethnic Kazakhs comprise 73% of students, ethnic Russians 14%, and ethnic
Uzbeks 4%. Other minority groups reflect the movements during the Soviet period and
include: Uighurs (1.5%), Ukrainians (1.3%) and Germans (1.0%) (IAC, 2014). While secularity

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 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

is enshrined in the constitution, Kazakhstan is predominantly Muslim (70%), with around

one quarter of the population declaring itself Christian (26%) and 3.5% indicating “other” or
no religious affiliation (OECD, 2014a).
Students may study in one of the two official languages (Kazakh and Russian) or in
other minority languages. Kazakh is considered the language of the Republic and,
according to the 2009 census, is understood by two thirds of the population. Russian is
considered the language of inter-ethnic communication as it is understood by virtually
everyone (94% of the population). English is understood by 15.4% of the population. The
positive discrimination of the Kazakh language to strengthen national identity and to
affirm it as the primary language of communication has translated into a growing number
of schools using Kazakh as the language of instruction. In 2012, the language of instruction
in most of the schools was Kazakh (3 819 schools), followed by Russian (1 394), Uzbek (60),
Uighur (14), and Tajik (2) (IAC, 2014). About, 2 113 schools offered more than one language
of instruction.
The net migration rate (the difference of emigrants and immigrants) is positive and
accounted to 6 990 individuals for the period 2008-12. There are marked differences in the
skill composition of immigrants and emigrants. The number of emigrants with higher
education (5 829) almost doubles that of immigrants (3 096) (IAC, 2014), which suggests
potential issues of “brain drain”. Foreign citizens account for only 0.4% of the population.
In an effort to fight child labour, Kazakhstan enabled children of migrant workers,
including seasonal migrants, to attend educational institutions with the same rights as
Kazakh children in 2012 (Antonowicz, 2013).

Economic growth and inequalities

Kazakhstan has experienced considerable economic growth in the last decade. Rapid
growth in the early 2000s drastically slowed down with the global financial crisis of 2008,
but rebounded by the end of 2009. In 2010, the country’s annual GDP growth was 7% and
inflation had remained stable. With a 2011 GDP per capita of USD 11 358, which doubled in
just a decade, Kazakhstan is considered an upper-middle income economy. Nevertheless,
the split from the Soviet Union in 1991 and the transition to a market economy imposed
harsh times and hit the education sector particularly hard. Drastic adjustments included
the closure of about 3 668 pre-primary schools and 590 schools and a severe reduction of
teacher salaries (ADB, 2004). Figure 1.1 displays the evolution of GDP per capita and
government consumption expenditure between 1992 and 2013.
Economic activity and investment in Kazakhstan is centred on extractive industries
(e.g. oil, gas, mining), and economic growth has bolstered with increasing global prices and
production. Extractive industries represented 65% of Kazakhstan’s exports and attracted
70% of the inflow of foreign direct investment in 2009 (OECD, 2012). The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) recently identified indicators suggesting that the country is affected
by Dutch disease (the apparent relationship between the increase in the economic
development of natural resources and a decline in the manufacturing sector or agriculture)
(IMF, 2013). Despite efforts to diversify the economy around transport, pharmaceuticals,
telecommunications, petrochemicals and food processing, these continue to be less
productive and not very competitive sectors. The over-reliance on oil and other extractive
industries means that public expenditures are very vulnerable to production and global
price shocks. This was again visible with the crash of oil prices in 2014. Taxes on oil
revenues were estimated to represent 37% of public revenues in 2006 (Daly, 2008).

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 31
1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Figure 1.1. Evolution of GDP per capita and government consumption expenditure
Index of change in GDP per capita General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP)
Index of change in GDP Public expenditure (% of
(1990=100) GDP)
850 20

750 18

16
650

14
550
12
450
10
350
8

250
6

150 4

50 2
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Note: General government final consumption expenditure (formerly general government consumption) includes all government current
expenditure for purchases of goods and services (including compensation of employees). It also includes most expenditure on national
defence and security, but excludes government military expenditures that are part of government capital formation.
Sources: World Bank Statistics (2014), World Bank national accounts data, World Bank data website, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/
NY.GDP.PCAP.CD; UNDATA (2014), http://data.un.org/.

Wide disparities remain in the personal and geographic distribution of income. The Gini
index, a coefficient that measures the income inequality in a society and that ranges from 0
(perfect equality) to 1 (maximum inequality), has decreased steadily in the past decade, from
0.34 in 2001 to 0.28 in 2012 (IAC, 2014). The proportion of the population living below the
poverty line fell to 3.8% in 2012 (IAC, 2014). The gap between rural and urban populations
remains wide, with twice as many people living below the poverty line of USD 2.3 per day in
rural areas than there are in urban areas (World Bank, 2012). Indicators on the health and
well-being status of the Kazakh population suggest that significant challenges remain in
terms of human development. Life expectancy remains low in comparison with countries
with a similar level of income and despite improvements in the last decade, maternal
mortality, infant mortality and under-five mortality rates are still high (OECD, 2014a).
The labour market is characterised by high female participation rates, a skilled
workforce and low levels of unemployment. In 2011, the labour participation rate of the
population aged 15 and above was 72% – a share that has remained fairly stable since 2000.
Male participation in the labour force is at 77% (79% for the OECD on average) and female
participation is at 67% (62% for the OECD on average) (OECD, 2014a). In 2010, about one
quarter of the adult population aged 25 and above had completed tertiary education (IAC,
2014). The unemployment rate fell from 12.8% in 2000 to 5.3% in 2012 (IAC, 2014). In 2011,
most of the employed labour force worked in services (55%), about one fifth in the
industrial sector, and 27% in agriculture, although the latter only accounts for 5% of GDP
(World Bank, 2012). The informal economy was estimated to account for 38% of GDP
in 2007 (Schneider et al., 2010).

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The country is actively engaged in the international community and virtually all major
international organisations and donors are present in Kazakhstan. The World Bank, the
Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund are among the
international governmental organisations that provided substantial development loans to
Kazakhstan in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, Kazakhstan had repaid the loans and was able
to borrow in international markets, becoming one of the few countries who managed to
become donor-free in just a decade. The Asian Development Bank and UNICEF have been
particularly engaged in providing support in the field of education (ADB, 2004 and UNICEF,
2010). The government is pursuing accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is
increasingly partnering with the OECD to put public policies up-to-par with developed
countries.1 In addition, Kazakhstan together with the Russian Federation and Belarus has
formed the Eurasian Economic Union.2

The governance of the education system

A hierarchical distribution of responsibilities
Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and established a
Presidential system with powers formally divided in legislative, executive and judiciary
branches. The President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been in office since 1991. The
Executive Office of the President exercises strong control over the Government, all branch
ministers, and regional governors. Independent scrutiny of Kazakhstan’s political system
reveals the limitations of the democratic process and insufficient freedom of public
discussions (ICG, 2013; Heinrich, 2010; Bhuiyan, 2012).
Kazakhstan has a highly centralised top-down system that leaves very little political,
administrative and fiscal authority to lower levels of a clearly delineated hierarchy.
Administratively, the country is divided into 14 Regions (or oblasts – , oblıstar) (see
Table 1.1) and two cities of special status: the current capital Astana and the former capital

Table 1.1. Regions of Kazakhstan

Population Population density
Region Capital Area (thousand km2)
(thousands, 2009) (people per km2, 2009)

Akmola Kokshetau 146.2 737.5 5.0

Aktobe Aktobe 300.6 757.8 2.5
Almaty Almaty 224.0 1 807.9 8.1
Atyrau Atyrau 118.6 510.4 4.3
East Kazakhstan Oskemen 283.2 1 396.6 4.9
Karaganda Karaganda 428.0 1 341.7 3.1
Kostanai Kostanai 196.0 885.6 4.5
Kyzylorda Kyzylorda 226.0 678.8 3.0
Mangystau Aktau 165.6 485.4 2.9
North Kazakhstan Petropavl 98.0 596.5 6.1
Pavlodar Pavlodar 124.8 742.5 5.9
South Kazakhstan Shymkent 117.3 2 469.3 21.1
West Kazakhstan Oral 151.3 598.9 4.0
Zhambyl Taraz 144.3 1 022.1 7.1
City of Astana - 0.7 613.0 875.7
City of Almaty - 0.3 1 365.6 4 552.1
Kazakhstan Astana 2 724.9 16 009.6 5.9

Source: The Agency on Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2011), Results of the 2009 National Population Census of
the Republic of Kazakhstan: Analytical Report, Astana.

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1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Almaty. Oblast governors are appointed by the President, serve as his representatives in
oblasts, head the oblasts and are responsible for implementation of the President’s policy
decisions. The country is further divided into 175 districts/municipalities (or rayons –
, awdandar), which encompass 87 cities, 34 villages, and 6 904 rural settlements.
Oblast governors are also responsible for appointing and dismissing Heads of the rayons.
Several actors are involved in education at the national level. The Executive Office of
the President plays an important role in the definition of education strategies and in the
development of key initiatives. The President is involved in all the major education
initiatives and, in his annual address, which typically occurs every January, he provides
directions for the education system that the Ministry then further implements. In addition,
the Executive Office of the President may directly develop and implement initiatives of
special interest for the country, such as the network of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools
that cater to gifted students (see Box 3.2 in Chapter 3). The Executive Office of the President
is also responsible for the overall review of monitoring reports on progress towards the
objectives set in education strategies.
The Ministry of Education and Science (referred to as ‘the Ministry’ hereafter) is the
central body responsible for the governance and inter-sector coordination in the fields of
education, science, protection of children’s rights and youth policy. The 2007 Law on
Education attributes the following responsibilities to the Ministry: defining and executing
educational policy; drafting regulations concerning funding for education; drafting
educational standards and curricula; organising and implementing assessment systems;
establishing requirements for teacher education; supporting the educational process in
Kazakh language; and signing international agreements on education. The Ministry has
created several subordinated organisations to support its work in areas of specific interest
(see Chapter 2).
Strategic and operative plans set short-, mid- and long-term directions and goals, and
a system of norms indicates how these should be achieved. Multiple mechanisms are in
place at all levels to monitor progress towards the national objectives and ensure
compliance with the system of norms. In general, the Ministry reports to the Executive
Office of the President and is monitored by the Ministry of the Economy and Budget
Planning (which, as of August 2014, became the Ministry of the National Economy) on its
performance, and the Ministry of Finance on the execution of the budget.
Oblasts and rayons are responsible for the delivery of education services in schools. The
exact expenditure responsibilities of oblasts and rayons were only clarified in the Budget
Code in 2007. Until then, it was at the discretion of each oblast to transfer selected
responsibilities on health, education or other social services to rayons. In theory, this could
have led to diversity and to adaptation of local governance structures to diverse local
conditions. In fact, however, the extensive system of planning and norms, coupled with
little spending discretion, resulted in little variation across local services (Makhmutova,
2001). Moreover, oblasts and rayons cannot contradict central government policies and are
required to follow national interests (Bhuiyan, 2010).
In comparison to OECD countries, schools have little autonomy in Kazakhstan. Their
responsibilities include distributing students across classes, developing strategies to
support low performers, establishing a leadership team, and managing the teaching body.
An area in which school principals have a comparatively high level of autonomy is the
management of teacher resources, namely teacher recruitment, the allocation of teaching

34 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

duties, and teacher dismissal. However, the number and type of teaching positions is
strictly regulated by central norms, especially through curriculum requirements, typical
staff structure and student numbers. The school principal decides how many teaching
hours per week to allocate to each teacher (see Chapter 3 for greater detail). This means
that teachers who are not needed in the school can be allocated just a few hours, instead
of being openly dismissed. In fact direct dismissal of teachers is rare. Similarly, school
principals can decide which teachers are given which responsibilities in school leadership
teams, but the number and types of deputy principals and their specific tasks are set in
legislation.
School Boards of Trustees and Parents’ Committees play an important role in schools.
Historically, all schools had Parents’ Committees, composed of parents of current school
students. These are informal (not legally registered) groups of parents, elected at parental
meetings with school teachers. Their functions were and still are largely supportive, they
organise school events, help in social and cultural activities, help organise school trips and
similar activities. Typically, they have no access to professional and financial
documentation of schools. In a major reform of the system, Boards of Trustees were
established in some schools as of 2007. Their composition includes, besides parents, also
representatives of the community and other local leaders. They were also assigned very
significant functions in school management, including participation in the design of
schools’ development strategies, appointment of key personnel, and oversight of financial
performance of schools. However, only in rare cases the Boards of Trustees are involved in
these important duties, and typically their current activities consist only in providing
assistance in the organisation of social and cultural events, similarly to Parents’
Committees. Moreover, until now they have been established in less than a half of all
schools. A survey of parents of ninth grade students showed that 40% of parents regularly
attend school activities and participate in class activities, while the rest only rarely go to
teacher-parent meetings. About 75% of parents regularly help their children with their
homework (NCESE, 2012). In Kazakhstan, parents tend to be significantly more engaged in
the education of their children than on average across OECD countries (OECD, 2013a).
Policy consultation tends to be limited to public authorities and operates in a
hierarchical top-down cascade in Kazakhstan. The role of civil society and interest groups
in education is weak. The Ministry of Education and Science has tried to increase
transparency through creating and regularly updating an official website, and encouraging
other educational institutions to create their own website.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent activities of foreign donors allowed
the non-profit sector in Kazakhstan to appear and grow. However, out of the 200 officially
registered non-governmental organisations (NGOs) not many are active and their actual
influence in the education sector appears to be small (Ibrayeva and Nezhina, 2013).
Moreover, the importance of international agencies in the development of the education
system is gradually decreasing. Some education funding during the last decade came from
external agencies in the form of loans, grants, sponsorships, and donations. International
agencies supporting education projects comprise organisations with varied experience and
priorities, ranging from technical assistance for the development of government strategies
and policies for reform, to programmes of academic exchange. Many started operating
during the early and mid-1990s, including some international governmental organisations
(e.g. European Commission, ADB, World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF), individual country
governmental organisations, and other NGOs (e.g. Soros Foundation). Priority has generally

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 35
1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

been on the instilling of democratic values in education, management of decentralisation

and institutional development, the development and publication of new textbooks and
instructional materials, and in-service training of teachers and administrators (ADB, 2004).

Legal and strategic foundations

The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1995) and the National Law on
Education (2007) lay down the main foundations of the education system. The Law
determines the objectives and principles of education, the administrative structure, and
the system of public and private schools. It also ratifies the administrative and financial
decentralisation of education institutions. The legal framework on education also
encompasses specific provisions of other legislative acts, edicts of the President, decrees of
the Government, orders of Minister of Education and Science, and resolutions of boards of
the Ministry of Education and Science. Policy developments in education are guided by a
multitude of planning documents and strategies, notably the State Program for Education
Development 2011-20.
Kazakhstan uses national strategic planning to broadly set out a vision for the country,
but also to regulate every aspect of the education system at the central level. A number of
strategies and planning documents ensure consistency and guide policymaking in the
short-, medium- and long-term. All major strategies are considered as part of the
legislative framework. The national architecture of strategic planning for the school
system consists of:
● Long-term: Development Strategy Kazakhstan 2050 “One nation, one destiny”, adopted
in 2012, provides a vision for the country for the years to come and superseded the
Strategy Kazakhstan 2030 adopted in 1997.
● Medium-term: several strategies co-exist for the medium term, notably the Program for
Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-20 (adopted in 2010) and
the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Education and Science for 2011-15 (from 2011) and
for 2014-18 (from 2014). Other strategic documents include the National Action Plan for
the development of school children’s functional literacy for 2012-16 (from 2012), the
State General Compulsory Education Standard (from 2012).
● Short-term: the annual address of the President to the nation provides an opportunity to
launch new initiatives and new strategies, which are then usually developed into
strategic sectorial documents and laws. The ministries, including the Ministry of
Education and Science, also develop their own operational plans for each year.
Strategies contain specific indicators and targets to measure implementation
progress, which is regularly monitored and reported to relevant authorities. The planning
system works using a top-down approach. Oblasts and subsequently rayons also define
their education strategies and planning documents to translate national strategic goals
into specific regional and local implementation plans and to formulate the target values of
the monitoring indicators in their sphere of operations. This approach to strategic
planning is based on the assumption that far reaching strategic goals can be adequately
broken down into a number of indicators, and that local and regional bureaucracies can
monitor progress using those indicators as their main tool.

36 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
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The structure and main features of the school system

Education in Kazakhstan is divided into pre-primary education, school education
(including primary, lower secondary, and upper general or vocational secondary
education), post-secondary and tertiary education (see the structure of the education
system in Annex 1.A2). School education is the term used in this report to refer to primary
(grades 1-4), lower secondary (grades 5-9) and upper secondary education (grades 10, 11
and 12).3 These levels of education, as well as the two final years of pre-primary education,
are compulsory and provided free of charge in public institutions.

Structure of the education system

Pre­primary education
A network of mostly public pre-primary nurseries and kindergartens provides
pre-primary education and care to children from 0 to 6 years of age. Pre-primary enrolment
falls well short of the high enrolment rates observed at the primary and secondary levels.
In the early 1990s, about 70% of pre-primary schools were closed, particularly in rural
areas, resulting in a high number of children who did not have access to pre-primary
education. Between 2005 and 2010, Kazakhstan almost doubled the rate of pre-primary
enrolment across the country (from 23% in 2005 to 42% in 2010), and the increase was six
fold in rural areas (from 6.7% to 35%) (OECD, 2014a). Pre-primary education is not part of the
scope for the School Resources Review of Kazakhstan but it is the subject of a separate
OECD review (Litjens et al., forthcoming).

School education
Primary education starts at the age of six or seven and lasts for four years. The
duration of lower secondary education is five years, followed either by two years in general
upper secondary education or two to four years in technical and vocational education.
In 2011, around two thirds of ninth graders continued to general upper secondary
education, while one third enrolled in technical and vocational education (IAC, 2014).
Students who successfully complete general upper secondary education can attend
shorter (two to three years) technical and vocational training programmes or continue to
higher education (OECD, 2014a).
Technical and vocational secondary education is provided in colleges (previously
called professional lyceums), schools, and higher technical schools. Technical and
vocational secondary education falls outside the scope of the School Resources Review of
Kazakhstan, but it has been the subject of another OECD review (Álvarez-Galván, 2014).
There is also a growing number of evening schools for young people who left school
without completing their secondary education.

Post­secondary and tertiary education

In 2011, a total of 146 universities, academies, institutes, conservatoires and higher
schools and higher colleges offered post-secondary and tertiary education. Graduates can
obtain the academic Bachelor degree after a minimum of four years of study. Admission is
based on the results of the Unified National Test (UNT) at the end of grade 11 (or grade 12),
which is a combined upper secondary school leaving examination and university entrance
test. Kazakhstan joined the Bologna Process in 2010. Post-secondary non-tertiary
education is provided in academic (degree duration: two years) or technical and vocational
specialisations (degree duration: at least one year) (OECD, 2014a).

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1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Main features
Primary and secondary education is compulsory in Kazakhstan and students are
entitled to attend a public school free-of-charge. Students can choose the school they want
to attend and priority is given to applicants who live in the neighbourhood of the school. In
the school year 2013-14, a total of 7 648 primary, lower and general upper secondary
schools catered to 2 571 989 students in Kazakhstan. The school system is an amalgam of
many different types and forms of schools, the vast majority of which (95.5%) are
state-owned day schools overseen by the Ministry of Education and Science (see Table 1.2).
The number of private schools has increased in the last decade, but only represents 1.4% of
all schools in the country enrolling only 0.8% of the students. About half of the 107 private
schools operating in 2013-14 were located in the cities of Almaty and Astana (IAC, 2014).
Private schools tend to offer a more international curriculum and experience, are allowed
to set their own fees, and do not receive any public funding.
The size and location of schools are the key distinctive features of the Kazakh school
network. Urban schools tend to suffer from a shortage of student places and operate in
multiple shifts. In the 2009-10 school year, about 66% of schools had classes in two or three
shifts. In contrast, low density of population and a policy that favours universal access
have resulted in a large number of small-class schools (malokomplektnaya shkola in Russian),
which are characterised for having a very small number of students and low
student-teacher ratios. Small-class schools are recognised as a special group of schools in
Kazakh legislation; they are allowed, among others, to provide multi-grade teaching. Even
the smallest communities in Kazakhstan are entitled to have a school, as long as they have
at least five children of compulsory school age. About 50% of schools are considered
small-class schools but they only cater to 11% of the student population (see Table 1.2). In
some regions the vast majority of schools are small-class, notably in North-Kazakhstan
(86%), Akmola (81%), Kostanay (76%) and West-Kazakhstan (74%). In 2010, the average
enrolment in primary school was 12 students per school, in lower secondary 45 students,
and in upper secondary 146 students per school. Small-class schools are confronted with
particular challenges, such as: very small class-sizes, poor infrastructure and staff
shortages, and often a lower quality of education. Recent policy efforts have focused on
establishing resource centres to enhance the capacity of these schools, and supporting
alternative boarding schools and transportation services (see Chapter 3).
The levels of education provided and the language of instruction vary across schools.
Most schools are general day schools offering grades 1-11 or 12; 13% of day schools offer
only primary grades 1-4; and another 15% offer only grades 5-9. Over half (52%) of general
day schools offer instruction in Kazakh language, 19% offer instruction in Russian language
and 29% are “mixed-language” schools; in addition two general day schools offer
instruction in Tajik, 14 schools offer instruction in Uighur and 60 schools offer instruction
in Uzbek (IAC, 2014).
There is a growing number of students in schools for the gifted, and of specialisation
schools in which several subjects are taught at an advanced level (e.g. maths, natural
sciences, social sciences, humanities, music, art). Gymnasiums and lyceums are the most
common examples of schools with more in-depth curricula in several subjects. The most
prestigious, however, are the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) that were created at the
initiative of the President to develop new educational practices (see Box 3.2 in Chapter 3).

38 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Table 1.2. Basic education statistics in Kazakhstan and the OECD, 2012-13
Kazakhstan (2013)

Number of schools % Number of students %

All general secondary schools 7 648 100.0 2 571 989 100.0

of which:
State-owned day schools 7 307 95.5 2 525 047 98.2
Non-state owned day schools 107 1.4 19 579 0.8
Evening schools 81 1.1 12 661 0.5
Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) 15 0.2 9 700 0.4
Other schools1 138 1.8 5 002 0.2
State-owned day schools 7 307 100.0 2 525 047 100.0
of which:
With Kazakh language of instruction2 3 796 52.0 1 607 509 61.9
With Russian language of instruction 1 349 18.5 894 658 34.4
With other languages of instruction 76 1.0 95 339 3.7
With more than one language of instruction 2 086 28.5 n/a n/a
of which:
Urban schools 1 605 22.0 1 403 377 55.6
Rural schools 5 702 78.0 1 121 670 44.4
of which:
Small-class schools 3 639 49.8 284 267 11.3

Kazakhstan (2013) vs. OECD average (2012)

Kazakhstan (2013) OECD average (2012)

Public spending as % of GDP3

Total education spending 3.8 5.6
Primary and secondary education 2.1 3.6
Net enrolment rate (%)
Primary and lower secondary education (ages 5-14) 99 98
Upper secondary education (ages 15-19) 86 83
Average class size4
Primary education 23 21
Secondary education 18 24
Student-teacher ratio5
Primary education 17 15
Secondary education 6 13
Learning outcomes
PISA 2012 mathematics, average score 432 494
PISA 2012 mathematics, % scoring below Level 2 45 23

Notes:
1. Includes special correctional schools, Republican schools, schools at higher education institutions, and other
schools.
2. Number of students based on 2012 data.
3. Based on 2011 data for the OECD.
4. Based on 2012 data for Kazakhstan.
5. Calculated using actual teacher headcount for Kazakhstan, full-time equivalent (FTE) teacher headcount for the
OECD.
Sources: NCESE (2014), Statistics of Education System of the Republic of Kazakhstan: National Collection, National Center for
Educational Statistics and Evaluation: Astana; and OECD (2014b), Education at a Glance 2014: OECD Indicators, http://
dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2014-en.

Students with special needs and disabilities are educated in separate ‘correctional’
schools, separate classes within mainstream schools, or in their own homes. Recent policy
measures aim at increasing the number of students with special needs and disabilities
attending mainstream schools (see Chapter 3).

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 39
1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Access, performance and attainment

Access to both primary and secondary education in Kazakhstan is almost universal.
In 2013, the net enrolment rate (school enrolment of children of the formal school age
measured as share of population corresponding to the formal school age) was 99% for
primary education and 86% for lower secondary (see Table 1.2). Kazakhstan has managed
to achieve high levels of access to primary and secondary education for all, and few
differences are observed in enrolment by geographical location, socio-economic
background and gender. The difference in attendance ratios between boys and girls, rural
and urban areas, and richest and poorest, account for less than one percentage point in
primary education (UNICEF, 2012). These differences are also observed in secondary school,
with the exception of children in the lowest income bracket. About 90% of those who have
dropped out of school come from poor and disadvantaged families (Singh, 2012). Despite
equal access to schooling, the schools attended vary considerably in terms of the quantity
and quality of resources (see Chapter 3). Also, low attendance rates of pre-primary
education, which are particularly low in rural areas, provide students with a different
starting point in the education system. In Kazakhstan, the percentage of students who had
attended pre-primary education for more than one year (24%) is one of the lowest among
PISA-participating countries and economies (OECD, 2013b).
The level of educational attainment of the population is high: one quarter of the adult
population aged 25 and above has completed tertiary education, 30% hold a
post-secondary degree and 40% have upper secondary education (IAC, 2014). The
educational attainment level of women is higher than that of men: 28% of women have
attained tertiary education compared to 23% of men, and 33% of women have obtained a
post-secondary degree compared to 29% of men (IAC, 2014). Anecdotal evidence suggests a
rising trend in school dropout rates as the national curriculum is increasingly perceived as
irrelevant to the modern job market, but official numbers are not available (UNICEF, 2012).
International assessments also provide important insights into student performance
in Kazakhstan in recent years. Since 2007, Kazakhstan has participated in the Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted by the International
Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), and since 2009 in the
OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). TIMSS provides data on the
mathematics and science achievement of fourth and eighth grade students every four
years. PISA is a triennial international comparative study of student learning outcomes in
reading, mathematics and science of 15-year-olds.
In the TIMSS 2007 study, fourth grade students scored 549 scale points in mathematics
and 533 scale points in science, ranking Kazakhstan in fifth place in mathematics and
eleventh place in science among fourth graders from 36 countries (Mullis et al., 2008;
Martin et al., 2008). System performance dropped significantly in the next cycle of
TIMSS 2011 to around average performance. Fourth grade students in 2011 scored 501 scale
points in mathematics and 495 scale points in science, placing them near the scale
midpoint and on a par with New Zealand, Norway and Sweden; the country ranked 27th in
the fourth grade mathematics assessment and 32nd in the fourth grade science assessment
among 50 countries (Martin et al., 2012; Mullis et al., 2012). Moreover, the performance of
eighth graders in 2011 was also lower than the performance of the same cohort of students
tested as fourth graders 4 years before: 487 scale points in mathematics and 490 scale
points in science. However, TIMSS 2011 showed that well over half of both fourth grade and

40 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

eighth grade students reached the “intermediate benchmark” level in both mathematics
(62% and 57%) and science (58% and 58%), which was higher than the international average
for these tests and equivalent to the performance of students in many OECD countries.
In PISA 2012, Kazakh students scored on average 432 points in mathematics (the main
area of assessment), 393 in reading and 425 in science, while students in OECD countries
scored on average 494, 496 and 501 points respectively (OECD, 2014c) (see Figure 1.2). The
difference in the mean performance in mathematics suggests that Kazakh 15-year-olds are
on average two years behind their peers in OECD countries. About 45% of Kazakh
15-year-old students are low performers in mathematics, meaning that, at best, they can
extract relevant information from a single source and can use basic algorithms, formulae,
procedures or conventions to solve problems involving whole numbers. This proportion is
significantly above the OECD average (23%). Some 0.9% of students are top performers in
mathematics, meaning that they can develop and work with models for complex
situations, and work strategically using broad, well-developed thinking and reasoning
skills. This proportion is smaller than on average across the OECD (13%). The dispersion of
scores is small with the score difference in mathematics between the top and bottom 10%
of students being one of the smallest among PISA-participating countries and economies.

Figure 1.2. Levels of reading achievement in PISA 2012

Below Level 1b Level 1b Level 1a Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Percentage of students
100

80

60

40

20

Students at Level 2 or above Students at Level 1a or below

Source: OECD (2014c), PISA 2012 Results: What Students Know and Can Do (Volume I, Revised edition, February 2014): Student Performance in
Mathematics, Reading and Science, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264208780-en.

In Kazakhstan, according to PISA data, the language of instruction in schools, school

location, and the socio-economic background of students and schools make a difference in
students’ performance. However, no significant gender differences are observed. Students
in Kazakh-language schools scored lower than those in Russian-language schools in
PISA 2012, with the differences in reading and mathematics equivalent to about one year
of schooling (World Bank, 2014). These variations could reflect differences in the
socio-economic status of students attending different types of schools or differences in the

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1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

resources available to students in the schools. The World Bank analysis has shown that
school resources contributed as much to the improvement in average PISA scores
between 2009 and 2012 as the individual students’ background characteristics. In
mathematics, school resources matter more in improving performance of high achievers,
whereas in reading they matter more for low- and middle-achieving students (World Bank,
2014).
The difference in performance between students whose school is located in a village
(fewer than 3 000 people) or a town (3 000 to 100 000 people) was not significant, but those
who attend a school in a city (over 100 000 people) performed significantly higher in
PISA 2012 (OECD, 2013b). However, the mathematics performance of rural students
improved by a full year of schooling since PISA 2009, compared to their urban peers, whose
performance improved by less than one-half of a year. Overall, rural students still lag their
urban peers in reading and mathematics, but the gap has narrowed considerably in the
latter subject (World Bank, 2014). Students in the bottom quarter of the index of economic,
social and cultural status also scored on average significantly lower than students in the
top quarter, for a difference in mathematics equivalent to more than one year of schooling
(OECD, 2013b). In Kazakhstan, 8% of the variation in student performance in mathematics
is attributed to differences in students’ socio-economic status (compared to 15% across
OECD countries). While in OECD countries boys outperform girls in mathematics by an
average of 11 score points, no significant gender differences were observed for Kazakhstan
in PISA 2012 (OECD, 2013b). Gender differences are also not significant at the lower and top
levels of performance in Kazakhstan, and differences are smaller than on average across
the OECD.
National assessments also suggest marked differences in educational outcomes
across the country. At the end of compulsory schooling, students can choose to take the
Unified National Test (UNT), which certificates their schooling and is also a university
entrance exam. In 2013, about 80% of students took the UNT. However, significant
differences exist in the participation rates across oblasts as, for example, 55% of students in
North Kazakhstan took the UNT compared to 82% of their peers in Astana city in 2013
(NCESE, 2013a, 2013b). Students in rural areas scored on average 8.74 points lower than
those in urban areas. However, the variation in performance between 2012 and 2013 for
urban (2.89 points) and rural (3.86 points) students suggests that the achievement gap
might be closing (IAC, 2014).
In line with the strong focus on pursuing excellence, Kazakhstan has a longstanding
tradition of participation in international Olympiads in natural sciences and mathematics.
In 2010 Kazakhstan held the 51st international mathematical Olympiad at which Kazakh
students reached 5th place among 98 participating countries (OECD, 2014a). In 2013, the
Kazakh team won 228 gold medals, 285 silver medals and 335 bronze medals as well as
33 certificates – in total 881 awards (NCESE, 2012). Olympiads are also regularly organised
at the national, regional and local levels, and incentives are provided to encourage the
participation of students.
There is little research about the returns on educational investments in Kazakhstan.
Arabsheibani and Mussurov (2007), using a 2001 household survey, found evidence to
suggest a positive and significant effect of secondary education on earnings. These
findings are in line with results from other transitional economies (Münich et al., 2005) and
middle-income countries (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004).

42 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Recent relevant policy developments

The reform agenda for the education sector is very ambitious: Kazakhstan should
become an educated country with a smart economy and a highly qualified labour force
by 2020. Moreover, education is considered as the platform that future economic, political
and socio-cultural prosperity of the country will rely on (MESRK, 2010). In the past 20 years,
vast economic, social and demographic transformations have already translated into
major structural changes in the education system. Today, Kazakhstan continues to embark
on profound reforms to improve the quality of the education system and is increasingly
looking at international standards and best practices.
The current strategy to transform the education sector is outlined in the State
Program for Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan (SPED) for 2011-20. The
SPED further develops previously adopted strategies, such as the State Program for
Education Development for 2005-10, the State Program for Technical and Vocational
Education Development for 2008-12, the Children of Kazakhstan Program for 2007-11, and
the Balapan Pre-primary Education Program for 2010-14.
The SPED includes a thorough diagnosis of the education system in terms of strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and challenges and outlines measures to address them. Some
of the key challenges identified in schooling are: (i) underspending in education; (ii) low
status of the teaching profession, poor quality of teacher education, lack of high quality
teaching staff and specialists in children’s rights protection, and weak educational
leadership; (iii) poor infrastructure and equipment of schools; (iv) low quality of provision
in small-class schools; (v) incipient inclusive education; (vi) underdeveloped use of
public-private partnerships in education; (vii) incipient use of information technologies;
and (viii) education statistics that do not meet international standards and are not publicly
available. Other relevant challenges identified in other education levels relevant for
schooling include the little access to pre-primary education, the mismatch between
education supply and employers’ demand for qualified vocational and higher education
graduates, the lack of a national qualifications system, and the disconnect between the
content of school education and the content of higher education.
The main goal of the SPED is increasing the competitiveness of education and the
development of human capital through ensuring access to quality education for
sustainable economic growth. This overall goal has been operationalised in 10 directions
and 23 targets. Moreover, 58 indicators have been defined to measure progress towards the
accomplishment of the objectives (see Annex 1.A3 for a complete list of the indicators).
Each direction defines the current and specific levels to be attained in 2015 and 2020 and
indicates the main authority responsible for monitoring progress. Some of the key policy
measures set in the SPED in order to tackle the challenges outlined above are as follows:
● Early childhood education and care (ECEC): enlarging the network of pre-primary schools;
updating the curricula; training staff and updating the training curricula; achieving full
enrolment (3-6 years); providing free meals; and smoothing the transition to primary
education.
● Primary, lower and upper secondary education: development of new mechanisms of education
financing, including a new per capita funding scheme; improving the quality of teachers
and school leaders; training highly qualified staff for the education sector; providing
more support and incentives; developing public-private partnerships and introducing
some elements of corporate governance systems in schools; improving student

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 43
1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

assessment methods and establishing national education statistics that meet

international standards; transitioning to a 12-year education model and updating the
curricula; addressing the challenges of small-class schools; and developing the concept
of inclusive education and the support provided to low-performing students in schools.
● Vocational education and training (VET): updating the structure and curricula of technical
and vocational education to meet the demands of the country’s industrial innovation;
improving staff training; and increasing the reputation of VET education.
● Higher education: equipping undergraduate and postgraduate students with skills to meet
the demands of the country’s industrial innovation; integration into the European Higher
Education Area; fostering synergies between education, science and industry; creating
conditions for the commercialisation of intellectual property products and technologies.
● Lifelong learning and civic education: creation of conditions for life-long learning for all;
implementation of a package of measures on patriotic education; encouragement of
active citizenship and social responsibility; and fostering the potential of youth.

Notes
1. In the field of education, Kazakhstan has engaged in recent years in several OECD Reviews other
than the present School Resources Review: Early Childhood Education and Care (Litjens et al.,
forthcoming), Vocational Education and Training (Álvarez-Galván, 2014), a general Review of the
School System (OECD, 2014a), Students with Special Needs and Disabilities (OECD, 2010), and
Higher Education (OECD, 2007).
2. As of 2015, Armenia and the Kyrgyz Republic became members of the Eurasian Economic Union.
3. It should be noted that the scope for the analysis in this report is limited to school resource use in
general school education (primary, lower secondary and upper general secondary education).

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Ibrayeva, A. R. and T.G. Nezhina (2013), “Public sector reforms in Kazakhstan”, in Liebert, S. et al., Public
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media/Files/asia/central-asia/kazakhstan/250-kazakhstan-waiting-for-change.pdf.

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IMF (2013), “Republic of Kazakhstan, selected issues”, IMF Country Report No. 13/291, International
Monetary Fund, Washington, DC.
Information-Analytic Center (IAC) (2014), OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource
Use in Schools: Country Background Report for Kazakhstan, Information-Analytic Center of the Ministry
of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana, www.oecd.org/edu/school/
schoolresourcesreview.htm.
Litjens, I., E. Melhuish and T. Shmis (forthcoming), Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care:
Kazakhstan 2015, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Makhmutova, M. (2001), “Local government in Kazakhstan”, in Munteanu, I. and V. Popa (eds.),
Developing New Rules in the Old Environment: Local Government in Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central
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Martin, M., I. Mullis and P. Foy (2008), TIMSS 2007 International Results in Science, IEA TIMSS & PIRLS
International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, Boston.
Martin, M. et al. (2012), TIMSS 2011 International Results in Science, IEA TIMSS & PIRLS International
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MESRK (2010), The State Program for Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan 2011-20:
RK Presidential decree as of December 7, 2010, Number 1118.
Mullis, I., M. Martin and P. Foy (2008), TIMSS 2007 International Results in Mathematics, IEA TIMSS & PIRLS
International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, Boston.
Mullis, I. et al. (2012), TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics, IEA TIMSS & PIRLS International
Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, Boston.
Münich, D., J. Svejnar and K. Terrell (2005), “Is women’s human capital valued more by markets than
by planners?”, Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 33, Issue 2, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 278-99.
NCESE (2014), Statistics of Education System of the Republic of Kazakhstan: National Collection, National
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NCESE (2013a), Comparative Analysis of Result of the Unified National Testing in 2004-2013, National Center
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Psacharopoulos, G. and H.A. Patrinos (2004). “Returns to investment in education: A further update”,
Education Economics, Vol. 12, No. 2, World Bank, Washington, DC, pp. 1325-43.

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1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Schneider, F. et al (2010), Shadow Economies All over the World: New Estimates for 162 Countries from 1999
to 2007, World Bank, Washington, DC, www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/
2010/10/14/000158349_20101014160704/Rendered/PDF/WPS5356.pdf.
Singh, K. (2012), Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education in Kazakhstan, Mission report
presented in the Twentieth session of the Human Rights Council, United Nations, New York,
www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session20/A-HRC-20-21-Add1_en.pdf.
The Agency on Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2011), Results of the 2009 National Population
Census of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Analytical Report, Astana.
UNDATA (2014), http://data.un.org (accessed on 25 September 2015).
UNESCO (2011), World Data on Education, Kazakhstan, UNESCO, Paris, www.ibe.unesco.org/en/services/
online-materials/world-data-on-education/seventh-edition-2010-11.html.
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[Developing and piloting the
methodology for a per capita financing scheme in general secondary education in Kazakhstan and
piloting the proposed model], UNICEF, Astana.
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NY.GDP.PCAP.CD.

46 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

ANNEX 1.A1

Structure of the population by gender and age, 2013

Figure 1.A1.1. Structure of the population by gender and age, 2013
Males Females

85+
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
15-19
10-14
5-9
0-4
1000 800 600 400 200 0 200 400 600 800 1000
Source: Information-Analytic Center (IAC) (2014), OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in
Schools: Country Background Report for Kazakhstan, www.oecd.org/edu/school/schoolresourcesreview.htm.

OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015 47
1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN

ANNEX 1.A2

The education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Figure 1.A2.1. The education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Age ISCED 5A/B/6

Doctoral courses
Universities, academies, scientific and
resarch institutions (3-year courses)

Master’s degree
Universities, academies (2-year programmes)

Bachelor’s degree
Specialist diploma
Universities (4-year programmes)

ISCED 4
Vocational and technical post-secondary education
Colleges
(2/3 year courses)
ISCED 3

General upper secondary education Vocational upper secondary education

* 17 Grades 10-11 Vocational and technical VAT colleges only, colleges
16 Schools, ungraded schools, lyceums, gymnasiums, profile schools Final examination: school leaving certificate and
UNT Examination: school leaving certificate and university university entrance exam
and post-secondary entrance exam

ISCED 2

Basic (lower) secondary education

15
Compulsory education

14 Grades 5-9
13 Schools, ungraded schools, lyceums, gymnasiums, profile schools
12 Intermediate examination after 9th grade: Admission condition for general upper secondary education
11

ISCED 1

10 Primary education**
9
Grades 1-4
8
7 Primary schools

ISCED 0
6
5
4 Pre-primary education
3 Kindergarten, classes and preschool groups in extracurricular organisations
2
1
0

* Current transition to 12-year model

** The Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan does not differentiate between primary and lower secondary education.
Only a few “primary education only” schools offer grades 1 to 4.
Primary education can start at the age of 6 or 7.
Specific entrance conditions
Diagnostic test or entrance examination

Source: UNESCO (2011), World Data on Education, Kazakhstan, www.ibe.unesco.org/en/services/online-materials/

world-data-on-education/seventh-edition-2010-11.html.

48 OECD REVIEWS OF SCHOOL RESOURCES: KAZAKHSTAN 2015 © OECD AND THE WORLD BANK 2015
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 The saint sustained it, but the woman died."![672]
The cherubim of the sanctuary had to be made of the gold of Uphaz,
the finest and purest gold. It was only the purest gold which could
be tortured by workmanship into forms of exquisite beauty. The
mind of Jeremiah was as unlike that of Elijah's as can possibly be
conceived. He was a man of shrinking and delicate temperament,
and his life is the most pathetic tragedy among the biographies of
Scripture. The mind of Elijah, like those of Dante or Luther or Milton,
was all ardour and battle brunt; the mind of Jeremiah, like that of
Melancthon, was timid as that of a gentle boy. A man like Dante or
Milton, when he stands alone, hated by princes and priests and
people, retorts scorn for scorn, and refuses to change his voice to
hoarse or mute. Yet even Dante died of a broken heart, and in
Milton's mighty autobiographical wail of Samson Agonistes, amid all
its trumpet-blast of stern defiance, we read the sad notes:—

"Nor am I in the list of them that hope;

Hopeless all my evils, all remediless;
This one prayer yet remains, might I be heard,
No long petition, speedy death,
The close of all my miseries, and the balm."

When the insolent priest Pashur smote Jeremiah in the face, and put
him for a night and a day in the common stocks, the prophet—after
telling Pashur that, for this awful insult to God's messenger, his
name, which meant "joy far and wide," should be changed into
Magormissa-bib, "terror on every side"—utterly broke down, and
passionately cursed the day of his birth.[673] And yet his trials were
very far from ended then. Homeless, wifeless, childless, slandered,
intrigued against, undermined—protesting apparently in vain against
the hollow shams of a self-vaunting reformation—the object of
special hatred to all the self-satisfied religionists of his day, the
lonely persecuted servant of the Lord ended only in exile and
martyrdom the long trouble of his eternally blessed but seemingly
unfruitful life.
I dwell on this incident in the life of Elijah because it is full of
instructiveness. Scripture is not all on a dead level. There are many
pages of it which belong indeed to the connected history, and
therefore carry on the general lessons of the history, but which are,
in themselves, almost empty of any spiritual profit. Only a fantastic
and artificial method of sermonising can extract from them, taken
alone, any Divine lessons. In these Books of Kings many of the
records are simply historical, and in themselves, apart from their
place in the whole, have no more religious significance than any
other historic facts; but because these annals are the annals of a
chosen people, and because these books are written for our
learning, we find in them again and again, and particularly in their
more connected and elevated narratives, facts and incidents which
place Scripture incomparably above all secular literature, and are rich
in eternal truth for all time, and for a life beyond life.
It is with such an experience that we are dealing here, and therefore
it is worth while, if we can, to see something of its meaning. We
may, therefore, be permitted to linger for a brief space over the
causes of Elijah's despair, and the method in which God dealt with it.
 CHAPTER XL.
ELIJAH'S DESPAIR.
1 Kings xix. 4-8.
 "So much I feel my genial spirits droop,
My hopes all flat, nature within me seems
In all her functions weary of herself,
My race of glory run, and race of shame,
And I shall shortly be with them that rest."
Samson Agonistes.

What are the causes which may drive even a saint of God into a
mood of momentary despair as he is forced to face the semblance of
final failure?
1. Even the lowest element of such despair has its instructiveness. It
was due in part, doubtless, to mere physical exhaustion. Elijah had
just gone through the most tremendous conflict of his life. During all
that long and most exhausting day at Carmel he had had little or no
food, and at the close of it he had run across all the plain with the
king's chariot. In the dead of that night, with his life in his hand, he
had fled towards Beersheba, and now he had wandered for a whole
day in the glare of the famishing wilderness. It does not do to
despise the body. If we are spirits, yet we have bodies; and the body
wreaks a stern and humiliating vengeance on those who neglect or
despise it. The body reacts upon the mind. "If you rumple the jerkin,
you rumple the jerkin's lining." If we weaken the body too much, we
do not make it the slave of the spirit, but rather make the spirit its
slave. Even moderate fasting, as a simple physiological fact—if it be
fasting at all, as distinguished from healthful moderation and wise
temperance—tends to increase, and not by any means to decrease,
the temptations which come to us from the appetites of the body.
Extreme self-maceration—as all ascetics have found from the days of
St. Jerome to those of Cardinal Newman—only adds new fury to the
lusts of the flesh. Many a hermit and stylite and fasting monk, many
half-dazed, hysterical, high-wrought men have found, sometimes
without knowing the reason of it, that by wilful and artificial devices
of self-chosen saintliness, they have made the path of purity and
holiness not easier, but more hard. The body is a temple, not a
tomb. It is not permitted us to think ourselves wiser than God who
made it, nor to fancy that we can mend His purposes by torturing
and crushing it. By violating the laws of physical righteousness we
only make moral and spiritual righteousness more difficult to attain.
2. Elijah's dejection was also due to forced inactivity. "What doest
thou here, Elijah?" said the voice of God to him in the heart of man.
Alas! he was doing nothing: there was nothing left for him to do! It
was different when he hid by the brook Cherith, or in Zarephath, or
in the glades of Carmel. Then a glorious endeavour lay before him,
and there was hope. But

"Life without hope draws nectar in a sieve,

And hope without an object cannot live."

The mighty vindication of Jehovah in which all the struggle of his life
culminated, had been crowned with triumph, and had failed. It had
blazed up like fire, and had sunk back into ashes. To such a spirit as
his nothing is so fatal as to have nothing to do and nothing to hope
for. "What did the Maréchal die of?" asked a distinguished
Frenchman of one of his comrades. "He died of having nothing to
do." "Ah!" was the reply; "that is enough to kill the best General of
us all."
3. Again, Elijah was suffering from mental reaction. The bow had
been bent too long, and was somewhat strained; the tense string
needed to have been relaxed before. It is a common experience that
some great duty or mastering emotion uplifts us for a time above
ourselves, makes us even forget the body and its needs. We
remember Jeremy Taylor's description of what he had noticed in the
Civil Wars,—that a wounded soldier, amid the heat and fury of the
fight, was wholly unconscious of his wounds, and only began to feel
the smart of them when the battle had ended and its fierce passion
was entirely spent.
Men, even strong men, after hours of terrible excitement, have been
known to break down and weep like children. Macaulay, in describing
the emotions which succeeded the announcement that the Reform
Bill had passed, says that not a few, after the first outburst of wild
enthusiasm, were bathed in tears.
And any one who has seen some great orator after a supreme effort
of eloquence, when his strength seems drained away, and the
passion is exhausted, and the flame has sunk down into its embers,
is aware how painful a reaction often follows, and how differently
the man looks and feels if you see him when he has passed into his
retirement, pale and weak, and often very sad. After a time the mind
can do no more.
4. Further, Elijah felt his loneliness. At that moment indeed he could
not bear the presence of any one, but none the less his sense that
none sympathised with him, that all hated him, that no voice was
raised to cheer him, that no finger was uplifted to help him, weighed
like lead upon his spirit. "I only am left." There was awful desolation
in that thought. He was alone among an apostatising people. It is
the same kind of cry which we hear so often in the life of God's
saints. It is the Psalmist crying: "I am become like a pelican in the
wilderness, and like an owl that is in the desert. Mine enemies
reproach me all the day long, and they that are mad upon me are
sworn together against me";[674] or, "My lovers and my neighbours
did stand looking upon my trouble, and my kinsmen stood afar off.
They also that sought after my life laid snares for me."[675] It is Job
so smitten and afflicted that he is half tempted for the moment to
curse God and die. It is Isaiah saying of the hopeless wickedness of
his people, "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." It is
Jeremiah complaining, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so:
and what will ye do in the end thereof?"[676] It is St. Paul wailing so
sadly, "All they of Asia have turned from me. Only Luke is with me."
It is the pathos of desolation which breathes through the sad
sentence of the Gospels, "Then all the disciples forsook Him, and
fled." The anticipation of desertion had wrung from the Lord Jesus
the sad prophesy, "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come,
when ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave
Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me."
[677] And this heart-anguish of loneliness is, to this day, a common
experience of the best men. Any man whose duty has ever called
him to strike out against the stream of popular opinion, to rebuke
the pleasant vices of the world, to plead for causes too righteous to
be popular, to deny the existence of vested interests in the causes of
human ruin, to tell a corrupt society that it is corrupt, and a lying
Church that it lies;—any man who has had to defy mere plausible
conventions of veiled wrong-doing, to give bold utterance to
forgotten truths, to awake sodden and slumbering consciences, to
annul agreements with death and covenants with hell; every man
who rises above the trimmers and the facing-both-ways, and those
who try to serve two masters—they who swept away the rotting
superstitions of a tyrannous ecclesiasticism, they who purified
prisons, they who struck the fetters off the slave—every saint,
reformer, philanthropist, and faithful preacher in the past, and those
now living saints, who, walking in the shining steps of these,
endeavour to rescue the miserable out of the gutter, and to preach
the gospel to the poor, know the anguish of isolation, when, because
they have been benefactors, they are cursed as though they were
felons, and when, for the efforts of their noble self-sacrifice, the
contempt of the world, and its pedantry, and its malice can find for
them no words too contemptuous or too bitterly false.
5. But there was even a deeper sorrow than these which made Elijah
long for death. It was the sense of utter and seemingly irretrievable
failure. It happens often to the worldling as well as to the saint.
Many a man, weary of life's inexorable emptiness, has exclaimed in
different ways:—

"Know that whatever thou hast been,

'Tis something better not to be."

That sentiment is not in the least peculiar to Byron. We find it again

and again in the Greek tragedians. We find it alike in the legendary
revelation of the god Pan, and in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and in
Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann. No true Christian, no believer in
the mercy and justice of God, can share that sentiment, but will to
the last thank God for His creation and preservation and all the
blessings of this life, as well as for the inestimable gift of His
redemption, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
Nevertheless, it is part of God's discipline that He often requires His
saints as well as His sinners to face what looks like hopeless
discomfiture, and to perish, as it were,

"In the lost battle

Borne down by the flying,
Where mingles war's rattle
With groans of the dying."

Such was the fate of all the Prophets. They were tortured; they had
trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment; they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins, they hid in caves and dens of the earth, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented, though of them the world was not worthy.
Such, too, was the fate of all the Apostles—set forth last of all as
men doomed to death; made a spectacle to the world, to angels,
and to men. They were hungry, thirsty, naked, buffeted; they had no
certain dwelling-place; they were treated as fools and weak, were
dishonoured, defamed, treated as the filth of the world and the
offscouring of all things. Such was conspicuously the case of St. Paul
in that death, so lonely and forsaken, that the French sceptic thinks
he must have awakened with infinite regret from the disillusionment
of a futile life. Nay, it was the earthly lot of Him who was the
prototype, and consolation, known or unknown, of all these:—it was
the lot of Him who, from that which seemed the infinite collapse and
immeasurable abandonment of His cross of shame, cried out: "My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He warned His true
followers that they, too, would have to face the same finality of
earthly catastrophes, to die without the knowledge, without even the
probable hope, that they have accomplished anything, in utter
forsakenment, in a monotony of execration, often in dejection and
apparent hiding of God's countenance. The olden saints who
prepared the way for Christ, and those who since His coming have
followed His footsteps, have had to learn that true life involves a
bearing of the cross.
Take but one or two out of countless instances. Look at that humble
brown figure, kneeling drowned with tears to think of the disorders
which had already begun to creep into the holy order which he had
designed. It is sweet St. Francis of Assisi, to whom God said in
visions: "Poor little man: thinkest thou that I, who rule the universe,
cannot direct in My own way thy little order?" Look at that monk in
his friars' dress, racked, tortured, gibbeted in fetters over the flaming
pyre in the great square at Florence, stripped by guilty priests of his
priestly robe, degraded from a guilty Church by its guilty
representatives, pelted by wanton boys, dying amid a roar of
execration from the brutal and fickle multitude whose hearts he once
had moved. It is Savonarola, the prophet of Florence. Look at that
poor preacher dragged from his dungeon to the stake at Basle,
wearing the yellow cap and sanbenito painted with flames and
devils. It is John Huss, the preacher of Bohemia. Look at the lion-
hearted reformer feeling how much he had striven, not knowing as
yet how much he had achieved, appealing to God to govern His
world, saying that he was but a powerless man, and would be "the
veriest ass alive" if he thought that he could meddle with the
intricacies of Divine Providence. It is Luther. Look at the youth,
starving in an ink-stained garret, hunted through the streets by an
infuriated mob, thrust into the city prison as the only way to save his
life from those who hated his exposure of their iniquities. It is
William Lloyd Garrison. Look at that missionary, deserted, starving,
fever-stricken, in the midst of savages, dying on his knees, in daily
sufferings, amid frustrated hopes. It is David Livingstone, the
pioneer of Africa. They, and thousands like them, have borne
squalors and shames and tragedies, while they looked not at the
things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the
things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen
are eternal. Might not they all have said with the disappointed
Apostles, "Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken
nothing"? Might not their lives and deaths—the lives which fools
thought madness, and their end to be without honour—be described
as one poet has described that of his disenchanted king:—

"He walked with dreams and darkness, and he found

A doom that ever poised itself to fall,
An ever-moaning battle in the mist,
Death in all life, and lying in all love,
The meanest having power upon the highest,
And the high purpose broken by the worm."

"Yes; the smelter of Israel had now to go down himself into the
crucible."[678]
 CHAPTER XLI.
HOW GOD DEALS WITH DESPONDENCY.
1 Kings xix. 5-8.

"Why art thou so vexed, O my soul? and why art thou so

disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God; for I will yet praise
Him who is the health of my countenance, and my God."—Psalm
xlii. 11.

"It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better
than my fathers."
The despondency was deeper than personal. It was despair of the
world; despair of the fate of the true worship; despair about the
future of faith and righteousness; despair of everything. Elijah, in his
condition of pitiable weariness, felt himself reduced to entire
uncertainty about all God's dealings with him and with mankind. "I
am not better than my fathers": they failed one by one, and died,
and entered the darkness; and I have failed likewise. To what end
did Moses lead this people through the wilderness? Why did the
Judges fight and deliver them? Of what use was the wise guidance
of Samuel? What has come of David's harp, and Solomon's temple
and magnificence, and Jeroboam's heaven-directed rebellion? It
ends, and my work ends, in the despotism of Jezebel, and a nation
of apostates!
God pitied His poor suffering servant, and gently led him back to
hope and happiness, and restored him to his true self, and to the
natural elasticity of his free spirit.
1. First, he gave His beloved sleep. Elijah lay down and slept.
Perhaps this was what he needed most of all. When we lose that
dear oblivion of "nature's soft nurse, and sweet restorer, balmy
sleep," then nerve and brain give way. So God sent him

"The innocent sleep,

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast."

And doubtless, while he slept, "his sleeping mind," as the Greek

tragedian says, "was bright with eyes," and He, who had thus
"steeped his senses in forgetfulness," spoke peace to his troubled
heart, or breathed into it the rest over which hope might brood with
her halcyon wings.
2. Next, God provided him with food. When he awoke he saw that at
his head, under the rhotem-plant, God had spread him a table in the
wilderness. It was a provision, simple indeed, but for his moderate
wants more than sufficient—a cake baked on the coals[679] and a
cruse of water. A Maleakh—a "messenger"—"some one," as the
Septuagint and as Josephus both render it,[680] some one who was,
to him at any rate, an angel of God—touched him, and said, "Arise
and eat." He ate and drank, and thus refreshed lay down again to
make up, perhaps, for long arrears of unrest. And again God's
messenger, human or angelic, touched him, and bade him rise and
eat once more, or his strength would fail in the journey which lay
before him. For he meant to plunge yet farther into the wilderness.
In the language of the narrator, "He arose, and did eat and drink,
and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights."
3. Next God sent him on a hallowed pilgrimage to bathe his weary
spirit in the memories of a brighter past.
It does not require forty days and forty nights, nor anything like so
long a period, to get from one day's journey in the wilderness to
Horeb, the Mount of God, which was Elijah's destination. The
distance does not exceed one hundred and eighty miles even from
Beersheba. But, as in the case of Moses and of our Lord, "forty
days"—a number connected by many associations with the idea of
penance and temptation—symbolises the period of Elijah's
retirement and wanderings. No doubt, too, the number has an
allusive significance, pointing back to the forty years' wanderings of
Israel in the wilderness. The Septuagint omits the words "of God,"
but there can be little doubt that Sinai was selected for the goal of
Elijah's pilgrimage with reference to the awful scenes connected with
the promulgation of the law. It is well known that the Mount of the
Commandments is as a rule called Sinai in Exodus, Leviticus, and
Numbers, though the name Horeb occurs in Exod. iii. 1, xxxiii. 6. To
account for the double usage there have been, since the Middle
Ages, two theories: (1) that Horeb is the name of the range, and
Sinai of the mountain; (2) that Horeb properly means the northern
part of the range, and Sinai the southern, especially Jebel Mousa.
Horeb is the prevalent name for the mountain in Deuteronomy; Sinai
is the ordinary name, and occurs thirty-one times in the Old
Testament.
After his wanderings Elijah reached Mount Sinai, and came to "the
cave," and took shelter there. The use of the article shows that a
particular cave is meant, and there can be little reason to discredit
the almost immemorial tradition that it is the hollow still pointed out
to hundreds of pilgrims as the scene of the theophany which was
here granted to Elijah. Perhaps in the same cave the vision had been
granted to Moses, in the scene to which this narrative looks back. It
is not so much a cave as, what it is called in Exodus, a "cleft of the
rock."[681] From the foot of the mountain, the level space on which
now stands the monastery of Saint Katherine, a steep and narrow
pathway through the rocks leads up to Jebel Mousa, the
southernmost peak of Sinai, which is seven thousand feet high. Half-
way up this mountain is a little secluded plain in the inmost heart of
the granite precipice, in which is an enclosed garden, and a solitary
cypress, and a spring and pool of water, and a little chapel. Inside
the chapel is shown a hole, barely large enough to contain the body
of a man. "It is," says Dr. Allon, "a temple not made with hands, into
which, through a stupendous granite screen, which shuts out even
the Bedouin world, God's priests may enter to commune with Him."
[682]

If, indeed, Elijah had heard by tradition the vision of Moses of which
this was the scene, he must have been filled with awful thoughts as
he rested in the same narrow fissure, and recalled what had been
handed down respecting the manifestation of Jehovah to his mighty
predecessor.
4. And as God had pointed out to him the way to restore his bodily
strength by sleep and food, so now He opened before the Prophet
the remedy of renewed activity. The question of the Lord came to
him—it was re-echoed by the voice of his own conscience—"What
doest thou here, Elijah?"
"What doest thou?" He was doing nothing! He had, indeed, fled for
his life; but was all the rest of his life to be so different from its
beginning? Was there, indeed, no more work to be done in Israel or
in Judah, and was he tamely to allow Jezebel to be the final mistress
of the situation? Was one alien and idolatrous woman to overawe
God's people Israel, and to snatch from God's prophet all the fruits
of his righteous labours? "What doest thou here, Elijah?" Is not the
very significance of thy name "Jehovah, He is my God"? Is He to be
the God but of one fugitive? "What doest thou here?" This is the
wilderness. There are no idolaters or murderers, or breakers of
God's commandments here; but are there not multitudes in the
crowded cities where Baal's temple towers over Samaria, and his
sun-pillars cast their offensive shadows? Are there not multitudes in
Jezreel, where the queen's Asherah-shrine amid its guilt-shrouding
trees flings its dark protection over unhallowed orgies committed in
the name of religion? Should there not have been inspiration as well
as reproof in the mere question? Should it not mean to him, "Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou so disquieted
within me? Put thy trust in God, for I will yet praise Him, who is the
health of my countenance, and my God"?
5. The question stirred the heart of Elijah, but did not yet dispel his
sense of hopelessness and frustration, nor did it restore his
confidence that God would govern the world aright. As yet it only
called forth the heavy murmur of his grief. "I have been very jealous
for Jehovah the God of Hosts": I, alone among my people; "for the
children of Israel"—not the wicked queen only, with her
abominations and witchcrafts, but the renegade people with her
—"have forsaken Thy covenant," which forbids them to have any
God but Thee, and have "thrown down Thine altars,[683] and slain
Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they
seek my life, to take it away." It was as it were an appeal to Jehovah
before whom he stood, if not almost a reproach to Him. It was as
though he said, "I have done my utmost; I have failed: wilt not Thou
put forth Thy power and reign? I am but one poor hunted prophet
alone against the world. There is no prophet more: not one is there
among them that understandeth any more. I can do no more. Of
what use is my life? Carest Thou not that Thy people have revolted
from Thee? Behold they perish; they perish, they all perish! Of what
use is my life? My work has failed: let me die!"
6. God dealt with this mood as He has done in all ages, as He had
done before to Jacob, as He did afterwards to David and to
Hezekiah, and to Isaiah and Jeremiah; and as the Son of God did to
the antitype of Elijah—the great forerunner—when his faith failed
him. He let the conviction steal into his mind that the ways of God
are wider than men, and His thoughts greater than men's. He
unteaches His prophet the delusion that everything depends on him.
He shows him that though He works for men by men, and though

"God cannot make best man's best

 Without best men to help Him,"
still no living man is necessary, nor can any man, however great,
either hasten or understand the purposes of God.
Elijah had need to be taught that man is nothing—that God is all in
all. Instead of answering his complaint, the voice said to him: "Go
forth to-morrow, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. Behold,
the Lord is passing by."[684]
 CHAPTER XLII.
THE THEOPHANY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE.
1 Kings xix. 9-15.

"Who heardest the rebuke of the Lord in Sinai, and in Horeb the
judgment of vengeance."—Ecclus. xlviii. 7.

Throughout the Scriptures infinite care is taken to preclude every

notion that the Most High God can be represented in visible form. He
manifested Himself at Sinai to the children of Israel, but though the
mount burned with fire, and there were clouds and thick darkness,
and the voice of a trumpet speaking long and loud, the people were
reminded with the utmost solemnity that "they saw no manner of
similitude."[685] Indeed, in later times, when there was a keener
jealousy of every anthropomorphic expression, the giving of the law
is rather represented as a part of the ministry of angels. The word
Makom, or "Place," is substituted for Jehovah, so that Moses and the
elders and the Israelites do not see God but only His Makom, the
space which He fills;[686] the delivery of the law is ascribed to
angelic ministers. At times the angels are almost identified with the
careering flames and rushing winds which a modern theologian
describes to us as being "the skirts of their garments, the waving of
their robes"; for is it not written, "He that maketh the winds His
angels and the flaming fires His ministers"?[687] And in the daring
description of Jehovah's visible manifestation of Himself to Moses,
when He hid him in that fissure of the rock with the hollow of His
hand, Moses only observes as it were the fringe and evanishment of
His glory, "dark with excessive light."
It was natural that Jehovah should reveal Himself to Elijah under the
aspect of those awful elemental forces with which his solitary life
had made him familiar. No spot in the world is more suitable for
those powers in all their fire and magnificence than the knot of
mountains which crowd the Sinaitic peninsula with their entangled
cliffs. Travellers have borne witness to the overwhelming violence
and majesty of the storms which rush and reverberate through the
granite gorges of those everlasting hills. It was in such surroundings
that Jehovah spoke to the heart of his servant.
First "a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in
pieces the rocks, before the Lord."[688] The winds of God, which
blow where they list, and we know not whence they come nor
whither they go, have in them so awful and irresistible a strength,
that man and the works of man, are reduced to impotence before
them. And when they rush and roar through the gullies of
innumerable hills in tropic lands where the intense heat has rarefied
the air, the sound of them is beyond all comparison weird and
terrific. We cannot wonder that this roar of the hurricane was
regarded as the trump of the archangel and the voice of God at
Sinai; or that the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind;[689] and
appeared to Ezekiel in a great cloud and a whirlwind out of the
north;[690] or that Jeremiah compared His anger to a whirling and
sweeping storm;[691] or that the Psalmist describes Him as bowing
the heavens and coming down and casting darkness under His feet,
and flying upon a cherub, and walking upon the wings of the wind;
[692] or that Nahum says, "The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind
and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet, ... and the
mountains quake at Him."[693]
And Elijah felt the terror of the scene, as the storm dislodged huge
masses of the mountain granite, and sent them rolling and crashing
down the hills. But it did not speak to his inmost heart: for
"The Lord was not in the wind."
And after the wind an earthquake shook the solid bases of the
Sinaitic range. The mountain saw God and trembled. The Lord, in
the language of the Psalmist, shook the wilderness of Kadesh, the
mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like young sheep.[694]
And man never feels so abjectly helpless, he is never reduced to
such absolute insignificance, as when the solid earth beneath him,
the very emblem of stability, trembles as with a palsy, and cleaves
beneath his feet; and shakes his towers to the earth, and swallows
up his cities. Once more the soul of Elijah shuddered at the terrific
impression of this sign of Jehovah's power. But it had no message
for his inmost heart: for
"The Lord was not in the earthquake."
And after the earthquake a fire. Jehovah overwhelmed the Prophet's
senses with the dread magnificence of one of those lurid
thunderstorms of which the terrors are never so tremendous as in
such mountain scenes, where travellers tell us that the burning air
seems transfused into sheets of flame. In that awful muttering and
roar of the lurid clouds, that millionfold reverberation of what the
Psalmist calls "the voice of the Lord," when the lightnings "light the
world, and run along the ground," and, in the language of
Habakkuk, "God sends abroad His arrows, and the light of His
glittering spear, and burning coals go forth under His feet, the lips of
man quiver at the voice, and his heart sinks, and he trembles where
he stands." And this, too, Elijah must have felt as "the hiding-place
of God's power:"[695] and yet it did not speak to his inmost heart;
for
"The Lord was not in the fire."
"And after the fire a still small voice."
However the rendering may be altered into "a gentle murmuring
sound," or, as in the Revised Version, "a sound of gentle stillness,"
no expression is more full of the awe and mystery of the original
than the phrase "a still small voice."[696] It was the shock of awful
stillness which succeeded the sudden cessation of the earthquake
and hurricane and thunderstorm, and instantly, in it appalling hush
and gentleness, Elijah felt that God was there; and he no sooner
heard that voiceful silence speaking within him than he was filled
with fear and self-abasement. He wrapped his face in his mantle,
even as Moses "was afraid to look upon God." He came from the
hollow of the rock which had sheltered him amidst that turbulence of
material forces, and stood in the entering in of the cave.
At once the silence became articulate to his conscience, and
repeated to him the reproachful question, "What doest thou here,
Elijah?"
Amazed and overwhelmed as he is, he has not yet grasped the
meaning of the vision. Something of it perhaps he saw and felt. It
breathed something of peace into the despair and tumult of his
heart, but he still can only answer as before:—
"I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the
children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine
altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, I only, am left;
and they seek my life, to take it away."
Whatever that theophany had taught him, it had not yet fully
removed his perplexity. But now God, in tender forbearance, unfolds
at any rate the practical issue of the vision. Elijah is to be inactive no
longer. He is to find in faithfulness and work the removal of all
doubts, and is to learn that man may not abandon his duties, even
when they are irksome, even when they seem hopeless, even when
they have become intolerable and full of peril. He has to learn that it
is only when men have finished their day's work that God sends
them sleep, and that his own day's work was as yet unfinished. He is
no longer to linger in the wilderness apart from the ways of guilty
and suffering men. He is one with them: he may not separate his
destiny from theirs; he has to feel that God has no favourites and is
no respecter of persons, but that all men are His children, and that
each child of His must work for all. "Go," the Lord said unto him,
"return on thy way by the wilderness to Damascus." Did the return
involve unknown dangers? Still he must commit his way unto the
Lord, and simply be doing good, regardless of all consequences. The
saints of the Old Dispensation no less than of the New had to go
forth bearing their cross, and on their way to Golgotha.
Three missions still awaited him.
First, he is to supersede the old dynasty of Benhadad, King of Syria,
founded by Solomon's enemy, and to anoint Hazael to be king over
Syria.
Next, he is to abolish the dynasty of Omri, and to anoint Jehu, the
son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel.[697]
Thirdly—and there was deep significance in this behest, and one
which must have humiliated to the dust the risings of pride and the
half-reproach, so to speak, for inadequate support which had
underlain his appeal to Jehovah—he is to anoint Elisha, the son of
Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, to be prophet in his room.
Elijah had thought himself necessary—an indispensable agent for the
task of delivering Israel from the guilty and demoralising apostasy of
Baal-worship. God teaches him that there is no such thing as a
necessary man; that man at his best estate is altogether vanity; that
God is all in all; that "God buries His workmen, but continues His
work."
And something of the meaning of these tasks is explained to him.
The people of Israel are not yet converted. They still needed the
hand of chastisement. The three years' drought had been ineffectual
to wean them from their backslidings, and turn their hearts again to
the Lord. On the royal house and on the worshippers of Baal should
fall the remorseless sword of Jehu. On the whole nation the ruthless
invasions of Hazael should press with terrible penalty. And him that
escaped from their avenging missions should Elisha slay. The last
clause is enigmatical. Elisha can hardly be said directly to have slain
any. He lived, on the whole, in friendship with the kings both of
Israel and of Aram, and in peace and honour in the cities. But the
general idea seems to be that he would carry on the mission of
Elijah alike for the guidance and the heaven-directed punishments of
kings and nations, and that the famines, raids, and humiliations
which rendered his nation miserable under the sons of Ahab should
be elements of his sacred mission.[698]
One more revelation remained to lift the Prophet above his lower
self. His cry had been, again and again: "I, I only, am left; and they
seek my life, to take it away." He must not indulge the mistaken
fancy that the worship of the true God would die with him, or that
God needed his advice, or that God was slack concerning His
promise as some men count slackness. He was not the only faithful
person left, nor would truth perish when he was called away. Nor is
he to judge only by outward appearances, nor to suppose that the
arm of God can be measured by the finger of man. A new prophet is
soon to take his place, but God has not been so neglectful as he
supposes,—"Yet," in spite of all thy murmurings of failure and a
frustrated purpose—"yet will I leave Me"—not thee, thee only—"but
seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto
Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him."[699]
It has been regarded as a difficulty that Elijah fulfilled but one of the
three behests. But Scripture does not narrate events with the finical
and pragmatic accuracy of modern annals. Elisha, directly or
indirectly, caused both Jehu to be anointed and Hazael to ascend the
throne of Syria, and we are left to infer that in these deeds he
carried out the instructions of his Master.
It is a more serious question, What was the exact meaning of the
theophany granted to Elijah on the Mount of God?
Here, too, we are left to large and liberal applications. The greatest
utterances of men, the loftiest works of human genius, often admit
of manifold interpretations, and lend themselves to "springing and
germinal developments." Far more is this the case in the revelations
of God to the spirit of man. We can see the main truths which were
involved in that mighty scene, even if the narrator of it leaves
unexplained its central significance.
It is usually interpreted as a reproof to the spirit which led Elijah to
regard the tempestuous manifestations of wrath and vengeance as
the normal methods of the interposition of God. He was fresh from
the stern challenge of Carmel; his hands were yet red with the blood
of those four hundred and fifty priests. It was perhaps needful for
him to learn that God's gentler agencies are more effectual and
more expressive of His inmost nature, and that God is Love even
though He can by no means clear the guilty. Something of this
lesson has been at all times learnt from the narrative.[700]

"The raging fire, the roaring wind,

Thy boundless power display;
But in the gentler breeze we find
Thy Spirit's viewless way.

"The dew of heaven is like Thy grace,

It steals in silence down;
But where it lights, the favoured place
By richest fruits is known."

Quite naturally men have always seen in the storm, the earthquake,
and the fire, the presence of God as manifested in His wrath. "Then
the earth shook and trembled," says the Psalmist; "the foundations
also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth.
There went up a smoke in His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth
devoured: coals burnt forth from it. He bowed the heavens also, and
came down: and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a
cherub, and swooped down: yea, He did fly upon the wings of the
wind."[701] "I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out
of her place, at the wrath of the Lord."[702] "Thou shalt be visited,"
says Isaiah, "of the Lord of Hosts with thunder, and with earthquake,
and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of
devouring fire."[703] On the other hand, in His mercy God "maketh
the storm a calm." When He reveals Himself in a vision of the night
to Eliphaz the Temanite "a wind passed before my face, so that the
hair of my head stood up, and there was silence, and I heard a voice
saying, Shall mortal man be great before God? shall a man be pure
before his Maker?" These passages in no small measure explain the
symbolism of Elijah's vision, and point to its essential significance.
Who can measure (asks Mr. Ruskin) the total effect produced upon
the minds of men by the phenomenon of a single thunderstorm?
—"the questioning of the forest leaves together in their terrified
stillness which way the wind shall come—the murmuring together of
the Angels of Destruction as they draw in the distance their swords
of flame—the rattling of the dome of heaven under the chariot
wheels of death?" Yet it is not the thunderstorms nor the hurricanes
that have been most powerful in altering the face or moulding the
structure of the world, but rather the long continuance of Nature's
most gentle influences.
Viewing the vision thus, we may say that it pointed forward to that
transcendently greater than Elijah who did not strive, nor cry, nor
was His voice heard in the streets. "There is already a gospel of
Elijah. He, the farthest removed of all the Prophets from the
evangelical spirit and character, had yet enshrined in the heart of his
story the most forcible of all protests against the hardness of
Judaism, the noblest anticipation of the breadth and depth of
Christianity." This view of the passage is taken, with slight
modifications, by many, from Irenæus down to Grotius and Calvin,
and modern commentators.
Similarly it is a universal law of history that, while some mighty and
tumultuous energy may be needed to initiate the first movement or
upheaval, the greatest work is done by gentler agencies. As in the
old fable, the quiet shining of the sun effects more than the bluster
of the storm. Love is stronger than force, and persuasion than
compulsion. Mr. J. S. Mill treats it not only as a platitude but as a
falsity to assert that truth cannot be suppressed by violence. He says
that (for instance) the truths brought into prominence by the
Reformation had been again and again suppressed by the brutal
tyrannies of the Papacy. But in all these instances has not the truth
ultimately prevailed? Is it not a fact of experience that

"Truth, pressed to earth shall rise again,

The eternal years of God are hers;
But error, wounded, writhes in pain
And dies among her worshippers"?

The truth prevails and the error dies under the slow light of
knowledge and by the long results of time.
Nor is it any answer to this view of the revelation to Elijah on the
Mount of God that there is not the slightest proof of his having
learnt any such lesson, or of such a lesson having been deduced
from it by the narrator himself. Neither Elijah, it has been said, nor
the writer of the Book of Kings, felt the smallest regret for the
avenging deed of Carmel. Their consciences approved of it. They
looked on it with pride, not with compunction. This is shown by the
subsequently recorded story of Elijah's calling down fire from heaven
on the unfortunate captains and soldiers of Ahaziah, in whatever
light we regard that story which was evidently current in the Schools
of the Prophets. If the massacre of the priests cannot be regarded
as morally excusable, the destruction of these royal emissaries by
consuming fire was certainly much less so. The vision may have had
a deeper significance than Elijah or the Schools of the Prophets
understood, just as the words of Jesus often had a deeper
significance than was dreamt of even by the Apostles when they
heard them. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men. Neither Elijah nor the sacred
historian may have grasped all that was meant by the wind, and
earthquake, and fire, and still small voice.

"As little children sleep and dream of heaven,

So thoughts beyond their thoughts to those high
bards were given."
It is scarcely more than another aspect of the many-sided truth that
love is more potent and more Divine than violence, if we also see in
this incident a foreshadowing of the truth, so necessary for the
impatient souls of men that God neither hasteth nor resteth; that He
is patient because Eternal; that a thousand years in His sight are but
as yesterday, seeing that it is past as a dream in the night.
Something of this we learn from the study of nature. It used to be
thought that the upheaval of the continents and the rearing of the
great mountains was due to cataclysms and conflagrations and vast
explosions of volcanic force. It has long been known that they are
due, on the contrary, to the inconceivably slow modifications
produced by the most insignificant causes. It is the age-long
accumulation of mica-flakes which has built up the mighty bastions
of the Alps. It is the toil of the ephemeral coral insect which has
reared whole leagues of the American Continent and filled the Pacific
Ocean with those unnumbered isles

"Which, like to rich and various gems, inlay

The unadorned bosom of the deep."

It is the slow silting up of the rivers which has created vast deltas for
the home of man. It has required the calcareous deposit of millions
of animalculæ to produce even one inch of the height of the white
cliffs along the shores. Even so the thoughts of man have been
made more merciful in the slow course of ages, and quiet,
incommensurable influences have caused all those advances in
civilisation and humanity which elevate our race. The "bright invisible
air" has produced effects incomparably more stupendous than the
wild tornadoes. "That air, so gentle, so imperceptible, is more
powerful, not only than all the creatures that breathe and live by it,
not only than all the oaks of the forest which it rears in an age and
shatters in a moment, not only than the monsters of the sea, but
than the sea itself, which it tosses up with foam and breaks upon
every rock in its vast circumference; for it carries in its bosom all
perfect calm, and compresses the incontrollable ocean and the
peopled earth, like an atom of a feather."[704]
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