In seven districts of the Almaty region, cases of violence, extortion, bullying and inappropriate behaviour by teachers, including of a sexual nature, have been identified. This was reported by the Commissioner for Children's Rights Dinara Zakieva.
According to media reports, the inspection was carried out with the participation of the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights and other state bodies. As Zakieva stated, as part of the monitoring, anonymous surveys of schoolchildren were organised, and their questionnaires were also analysed.
It is reported that in schools in the Karasai, Balkhash, Talgar, Ili and Enbekshikazakh districts, children report the following violations:
- extortion and taking of food among students;
- cases of bullying and violence;
- harassment by teachers, in particular — by physical education and mathematics teachers.
It has become known that in the Enbekshikazakh district, two students were hospitalised after violence was used against them by teachers.
According to those surveyed, in one school in the Zhambyl district, upon seeing older students, schoolchildren automatically put their hands in their pockets to hand over money and avoid violence. There are also reports of a fifth-grader being beaten by a group of peers and the free use of nasvay on school premises.
As Zakieva stated, in the same school, children reported the existence of an anonymous Instagram channel which posts information subjecting them to cyberbullying. According to the students, they repeatedly told teachers about this but received no support.
The children also spoke of a mass brawl in autumn 2024 involving at least 50 schoolchildren. However, the school administration claims that no such incident occurred, and the police are unaware of it.
"Thus, schools show clear facts of the concealment of offences among students by management and staff, and a lack of preventative and individual work with children. School management is either not aware of the situation among students, or ignores, conceals and fails to report it to the police. Furthermore, in most cases, despite positive answers to questions about bullying, extortion and other illegal actions in the schools' own surveys, they indicate 0% in the final report", wrote Zakieva.
In her assessment, the implementation of educational work programmes and compliance with legal norms in the region's educational institutions are at a low level.
The Ombudsman noted that all identified facts were raised at a final meeting attended by the region's leadership, police and other authorised bodies. The Office of the Commissioner for Children's Rights has also prepared a report with the inspection results, which will be sent to the relevant state authorities for action.