Yesterday Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Beibut Atamkulov received Chairman and CEO of KinderWorld International Group, Mr Ricky Tan Teck Yong.

The Singaporean company is going to build various world-class educational facilities in Kazakhstan. It is the first investment project in the educational sector. Kazakh Invest National Company provides full support for this project.

Representatives of the Singapore company presented their project “Creation of a Lifelong Learning Educational Center based on the Singapore model “KinderWorld Kazakhstan”: kindergarten - school - college – university”.

According to them, a kindergarten will be built for up to 2,000 children, a school for 2,000 pupils and a college for 2,000 students. The investor intends to attract up to 30 percent of local teachers.

The company is considering a three-phase pilot project in the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Shymkent.

“At the initial stage, it is planned to build a kindergarten and primary school. At the second stage, a secondary school will be constructed. Then a college and university will be built. The transition to each subsequent stage is carried out when the planned number of students reaches 60 percent. The university will be opened when the required number of students at the level of kindergarten, high school and college is achieved”, the message reads.

The Nur-Sultan city administration will allocate a land plot of 5 hectares for the project.

The Singaporean company’s educational facilities are accredited in the international organizations as the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, the University of Cambridge, ACT education solutions. It also conducts examination for receiving certificates of prestigious programs such as iPSLE, IGCSE and GAC, allowing students to enter the top 100 universities of the world. 

The company has reportedly developed a lifelong learning educational network since 1986 in Singapore, focusing on active development of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning system.

For the record, KinderWorld International Group is an international educational group, founded in 1986. The main activity of the company is the development of an educational network of continuing education. Since 2000, the company has invested in the construction of schools in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia and currently operates 21 educational centers.

Kazakh Invest Deputy Chairman Marat Birimzhan said the project is important for the development of the education system. The national company will provide support in terms of concluding the investment contract, land acquisition and visa procedures.

The agreement on the establishment of the educational centre from pre-school to secondary school education was inked at the Kazakhstan-Singapore Investment Forum Nov. 21, 2018.

According to Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, investment is a key factor in the country’s development, more than $300 billion has been invested in the Kazakh economy over the years of independence.

“Today the country offers a wide range of opportunities for foreign investors. Understanding the importance of investment for our economy, we have created a Coordinating Council for attracting foreign investment, I have been assigned the duties of an investment ombudsman. Of course, this will allow us to quickly resolve issues arising in the course of investment activities and effectively interact with investors”, the head of the Kazakh Government noted during the KGIR-2019 (Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable), held in May.

Saltanat Sarina

Photo: MFA RK