Kazakhstan has not yet set specific dates for the transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin script. The draft of the new alphabet and the rules of orthography are still being refined.
WHY NO TIMELINE HAS BEEN SET YET
The absence of specific dates was announced by the Minister of Education, Zhuldyz Suleimenova. According to her, the state has not yet officially approved the new format of the alphabet.
The Minister emphasised that until the drafts are approved through regulatory documents, various versions of the Latin script should not be used in schools or other organisations.
WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE ALPHABET DRAFT
The latest draft of the new alphabet was presented to the National Commission by linguistic scholars in 2022. At that time, the document was sent back for further refinement.
This work is still ongoing.
CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Earlier, it became known that the bulk of the funds allocated for the transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin script was returned to the budget due to changes in working plans.
At the same time, the reform itself began in 2017, when Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a Decree on the transition of the Kazakh alphabet from Cyrillic to the Latin script. Initially, the phased transition was planned to be completed by 2025.
During the implementation of the reform, versions of the new alphabet were revised on several occasions. In 2018, amendments were made to the original Decree, and work on the writing system continued.
In 2022, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed that an additional analysis of the transition be carried out and that work on the new orthography of the Kazakh language continue. In 2023, the President also instructed that international experience be studied and that work continue taking into account the mistakes of previous attempts. As a result, the original transition deadline was not met, since the final version of the alphabet and the rules of orthography have still not been approved by regulatory documents.
