Kazakhstan has tightened the rules for the acceptance of children's camps following violations identified last year.
According to informburo.kz, the deputy head of the Almaty education department, Aydyn Sailaubai, reported that a monitoring group would be created in the city to oversee the acceptance of camps.
It was also announced that the authorities have tightened the rules for submitting applications, in particular, strengthening the requirements reflected in the technical specifications, and also adding the necessity for staff to have compulsory teaching experience.
"Last year's situation raised problems not only for Almaty but for the entire republic. We have repeatedly said before: a violation occurred in the procedural state procurement process. The chief specialist who did everything wrong has now been convicted. And measures have now been taken – the technical specification has been reviewed," stated Aydyn Sailaubai.
At the same time, the education department plans to open a new camp that meets all requirements. The existing "Ornek" camp is to be modernised and its capacity increased from 300 to 500 places.
Furthermore, the construction of a new camp with 500 places is expected. This year, they also plan to open five new health centres in the regions, and by 2026, 50 new centres.
According to the Ministry of Education, more than 11,000 camps in the country are already ready to receive children.
"The department has approved the register of children's health centres and adopted an action plan. It includes legislative norms, programmes, monitoring and control. This year, for the first time, uniform requirements for each type of camp were developed with the involvement of volunteers and additional education teachers," the statement reads.
Recall that earlier, a billiard table and a sauna were discovered by the prosecutor's office at a children's camp in the Kostanay region.
In addition, it became known that at a private children's camp in the Almaty region, schoolchildren from large families were provided with free holidays, where they were forced to sleep in dirty rooms with old beds.
But the most scandalous case, which caused a public outcry, occurred in Almaty, where schoolchildren from socially vulnerable segments of the population were housed in a sauna building instead of the promised camp.