In the Pavlodar region, 14,000 children and teenagers are taking part in sports clubs for free under the Artsport programme. This year, the region has allocated nearly 3 billion tenge to the initiative. The programme includes more than 20 types of sports, including sections where children with disabilities can take part.
According to pavon.kz, there are currently more than 6,000 children in the region on the waiting list for sports activities under the Artsport programme.
"Last year, 1.9 billion tenge was allocated; this year, it is 2.7 billion tenge. Around 14,000 children are currently participating. Another 6,000 to 8,000 are on the waiting list. Last year we had 81 providers; now there are 118," said the deputy head of the regional department for physical culture and sports, Nurlan Yesembayev.
It is reported that to cover more children under the programme, each child is allowed to attend only one club. Incidentally, previously they were allowed two.
"There were cases where some children, who were given two vouchers, only attended one club. As a result, the second spot remained empty, and another child could not take part in the project," explained Nurlan Yesembayev.
For context, we have previously written about the Artsport programme and the violations associated with it. For instance, in Shymkent, violations totalling over 56 million tenge were discovered under the Artsport programme.
At the end of 2022, the prosecutor general's office reported the embezzlement of funds in several regions totalling 1.1 billion tenge. It also emerged that in six regions of Kazakhstan, under the Artsport programme, children were trained by former pimps and sex workers.
One can only hope that this year the Pavlodar region will avoid corruption scandals. Incidentally, funding for the Artsport programme this year was allocated in only five regions: Pavlodar, Turkestan (2.1 billion), Karaganda (2.2 billion) and Mangystau regions (1.3 billion), as well as the Abai region (1.2 billion).
Perhaps this is because, following previous scandals with the platform, a new one with similar social services, DAMU BALA, was launched in the country.