Mayor of Almaty Yerbolay Dossaev met with mothers of large families

During the discussion, topical issues of expanding access to high-quality preschool and secondary education for children, medical services, preferential mortgage lending, the effectiveness of placing state social orders among NGOs working with large families and children with special needs, etc. were raised.

The meeting participants dwelled on the current practice of assigning targeted social assistance to mothers with many children and voiced their proposals for its replacement with a single allowance, regardless of social status. Akim of the city expressed readiness to consider their proposals and further discuss with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population.

One of the hot topics during the dialogue was providing children with hot meals, regardless of social status, and improving the quality of the diet itself. In response to this proposal, Yerbolat Dossaev said that, in accordance with the instructions of the Head of State, within the framework of the Year of Children, the akimat carried out the necessary work, found resources, and from September 1, 2022, all primary school students (grades 1-4) of Almaty public schools, regardless of social status, will be provided with free hot meals.

“In order to organize high-quality nutrition for children, the Department of Education has worked out the issue of compiling a balanced and varied diet. The issue of financing will be considered by the maslikhat on March 4 as part of the clarification of the local budget,” Yerbolat Dossaev said.

A special discussion was caused by the lack of student places and queues in kindergartens. Today, the deficit in the city is 19,611 places in schools and 41,080 in kindergartens. Due to the high birth rate and active migration of the population to the metropolis, the annual increase is up to 15 thousand and 8 thousand children, respectively.

“In Almaty, there is an acute shortage of free land for the construction of schools and kindergartens, and the pace of construction allows to close only the annual increase,” the head of the city said.

Akim of Almaty stressed that this year the shortage is expected to decrease to 15,461 places in schools and to 39,520 places in kindergartens. In the near future, the akimat will work out and propose additional measures to accelerate the resolution of accumulated issues.

A separate block of discussions was devoted to working with children with special needs, the problems of early detection of disability and, as a result, the impossibility and inefficiency of further socialization of children.

“Rehabilitation, treatment, inclusive accompaniment of children in kindergartens and schools are the key tasks of the departments of the social block of the akimat. The current program for the inclusive development of children will be reviewed, so I invite interested public funds and NGOs of the city to take an active part in this work,” the head of the metropolis emphasized.