News

There have been personnel changes at the Foundation for sustainable development of education (FURO), part of the aitas foundation. Sabyrzhan Kenshilik, who previously headed the project “Capacity building of hub schools in rural areas,” has been appointed acting head of the fund.

Three rural hub schools in Kazakhstan took all the prizes in the national video contest “Kindness continues,” organized by the Qazaqstan Halkyna fund. As a result of the contest, the schools will receive new sports facilities worth a total of 194 million tenge.

During the festival “Altai: the golden cradle of the Turkic world,” 13 students of the S. Lastayev school in Katon-Karagai District, East Kazakhstan region, helped foreign guests find their way around the event venues and get to know the festival program.

The project “Capacity development of small-multigraded rural schools with digital solutions” of the Fund for sustainable development of education (FURO), implemented in Aktobe region, has received a bronze certificate in the 2026 EduEvidence international system for evaluating educational innovations, in the Equity category (equality and accessibility of education).

The school in the village of Uryl in Katon-Karagai district, East Kazakhstan region, has been officially added to Google for Education’s international directory of innovative schools. It is the first rural school in Central Asia and the CIS to receive Google reference school status.

A national methodological intensive, “Rural school: a space of new opportunities,” took place at the Abai secondary school in Tarbagatai district, East Kazakhstan region.

The school in the village of Uryl in Katon-Karagai district, East Kazakhstan region, has become the first in Central Asia to receive Google reference school status, an international recognition for the successful integration of digital technologies into the educational process.

A meeting of the board of trustees of the Foundation for sustainable development of education (FURO) was held, at which the results of the Fund’s work in 2025 were summarized and the key areas for its further work were defined.

The Foundation for sustainable development of education (FURO), together with the higher school of humanities at Maqsut Narikbayev University (MNU), has delivered a professional development program for teaching and management staff of rural hub schools.

The Foundation for sustainable development of education (FURO) continues to develop cooperation with the Qazaqstan Teleradio Corporation in order to improve the performance of the TV studios established in rural hub schools.

From January 11 to 18, 2026, representatives of the Foundation for sustainable development of education (FURO) and the Autonomous Educational Organization “Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools” (NIS) visited the Chinese city of Xi’an as part of a strategic education mission. The trip took place within the long-term partnership between the two organizations, aimed at building the capacity of rural hub schools in Kazakhstan.

From November 10 to 12, 2025, the city of Hiroshima, Japan, hosted the international conference of the World Association of Lesson Studies (WALS 2025). For the first time, teachers from rural hub schools in Kazakhstan took part in its work.

A project to build the capacity of small-multigraded rural schools through digital technologies has been included in the HundrED Global Collection 2026, a list of the world’s 100 best education innovations recommended for scaling internationally.

The XIV International scientific and practical conference of the autonomous educational organization “Nazarbayev intellectual schools,” NIS Conference 2025, took place in Astana at Nazarbayev University. The two-day education forum was held under the theme “School education in the digital age: key trends and challenges.”

Journalists from the national TV channel Qazaqstan visited the Seitkamza Lastayev secondary school in Katon-Karagai district, East Kazakhstan Region, and produced a TV report on the life and development of the rural school.

Today in Astana, a presentation was held for the book by Kulyash Shamshidinova, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Fund for Sustainable Development of Education (FURO) and Honored Teacher of Kazakhstan.

Speech by Guljira Yerkebayeva, Director of the Resource School in the Karmakshy District, at the conference of the "Qazaqstan halkyna " Foundation

A pilot project for introducing STEM education into the supplementary education system has launched in the Karaganda region. The initiative aims to transform hobby groups and clubs into modern child development centers where students can master robotics, programming, artificial intelligence, and even create their own media formats.

From Ghana to Katon-Karagay: Ebenezer Yeboah Owusu, a teacher from Ghana, has become the first participant in an initiative that brings global education closer to rural children.

For the first time, rural schools will receive modern STEM and art classrooms, television studios, and science laboratories, while teachers will undergo professional development programs.

FURO implements large-scale initiatives to modernize education in rural regions—from digitalization to teacher support