Teachers at the private school Cosmo International School in Almaty report months-long delays in salary payments. According to the teachers, they have not received money for time worked since October, despite regular promises from management to ‘pay tomorrow’. To date, the funds have still not been transferred to employees' accounts.
According to the Telegram channel ‘HALYQSTAN’, the teachers have drawn up a collective appeal describing the situation.
‘The teachers are in complete despair! Today is 30 December, and we still haven't received our salary for October (30 full-time employees and about 10 people on civil contracts). The total wage debt of the school's branch in Aksai is 19 million 200 thousand plus taxes, and the debt of the branch in the Karasai district is 17 million plus payments, plus taxes. Moreover, pension contributions and compulsory social health insurance have not been paid since December last year,’ the teachers complained.
According to the employees, the debt concerns not only salaries.
‘Even now, there are extra classes in “Kündelik”! These children are not at the school. There are no personal files. Since last year, over 200 students were registered in the registers, but in reality only about 40 primary school children attended the school. On top of that, there is a debt to the canteen, a debt for rent of the premises, and a debt to the marketers,’ the teachers wrote.
According to the teachers, the reasons for such significant debts remain unclear, as, judging by the cost of tuition, the school should not be experiencing financial difficulties.
As the employees claim, parents pay between 160 and 300 thousand tenge per month for tuition. In addition, some students study for free, and the school receives subsidies from the akimat as part of the state educational order.
‘At the beginning of the year, when we were hired, they said that primary school costs 2 million 200 per year, middle school - 2.5 million, and years 10-11 - 3 million,’ the teachers reported.
According to the staff, the situation escalated after the school's director Victoria Shestel, her deputy, and the head of human resources stood up for the teachers. According to the teachers, the school's founder Cosmas Omeje dismissed them ‘under an article’, without making a final settlement.
‘I was specifically dismissed under Article 52, paragraph 1, subparagraph 13 – “loss of the director's trust”. And at a school-wide parents' meeting, he accused me of creating an organised criminal group and attempting a hostile takeover of the school! All because I stood up to protect the teachers,’ the former school director said.
It has become known that Cosmas Omeje is also the founder of the public foundation Union of Nigerians of Kazakhstan. His wife Tatiana owns a company involved in the wholesale trade of fuel.
According to the teachers, they have already sent appeals to the labour inspectorate, tax authorities, the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Employment and Social Programmes, the Human Rights Ombudsman, and also to the Amanat party, but to no avail.
‘On 26 December 2025, a second meeting of the "Amanat" party and representatives of state bodies was supposed to take place regarding the non-payment of salaries to teachers and employees of LLP "Cosmo International School" and LLP "Cosmo International School Almaty". But the meeting was cancelled without warning the victims! Now we are all forced to resign. We have submitted a notice of termination effective from 5 January. Cosmas Omeje must make a full settlement. But we suspect we will only be able to obtain payment through the courts. Where are we supposed to go in the middle of the school year?! The Department of Education is not responding!’ the teachers complained.
Incidentally, the last time the teachers were promised their salary was 31 December.