A working meeting in Astana reviewed how far Kazakhstan has come with its Country Initiative on Education for Sustainable Development for 2030, and discussed how to update it.
Education for Sustainable Development is shortened to ESD, and the global framework the initiative follows is called ESD for 2030, which has a Roadmap of its own.
That Roadmap sets five priority areas of action: advancing policy, transforming learning environments, building the capacities of educators, empowering and mobilising young people, and speeding up action at the local level.
The Altynsarin National Academy of Education, which comes under Kazakhstan's Ministry of Education, gave an account of where the initiative stands.
The Academy's President also serves as Kazakhstan's National Coordinator for Sustainable Development Goal 4, the goal on quality education.
Officials, schools and universities, research centres, international organisations, experts and non-governmental bodies took part.
The meeting referred back to the mid-term review of ESD for 2030 carried out in 2025.
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Education plans to attend the UNESCO Global Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in Nairobi in January 2027.
Priority areas in the Roadmap:5
Why it matters for exams: ESD for 2030 is UNESCO's framework for education on sustainability, and Sustainable Development Goal 4 is the goal on quality education.
More than seventy policymakers, university heads, international experts and cultural professionals met in Almaty for the International Conference on Higher Education, Arts and Sustainable Development.
The conference carried the title Sustainable Central Asia: Silk Roads of Education, Arts, and AI, and sat at the Almaty Museum of Arts.
CIMEA ran it through its Central Asia Regional Office, with the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty, the British Council and the museum.
Those taking part came from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and from Italy, Singapore and Uruguay.
CIMEA Director General Professor Luca Lantero, Amir Piric of the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty and Vladimir Opredelenov of the museum opened it.
The first day took up the internationalisation of universities, academic mobility and the recognition of qualifications.
The second day turned to climate change education, including the Turn It Around initiative on young people and climate, and to heritage, museums and media and information literacy.
Experts of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education were among the speakers.
Participants:More than 70
Why it matters for exams: UNESCO's Institute for Information Technologies in Education and its regional office network are standard questions on the organisation's structure.
A two day workshop in Almaty brought together the people who look after natural World Heritage properties in five Central Asian states and Mongolia.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia took part, and the theme was cooperation across borders.
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre coordinated it with the UNESCO Regional Offices in Almaty and Beijing and with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Republic of Korea paid for it through a UNESCO Funds-in-Trust project on transnational cooperation for natural and mixed World Heritage in Asia, with the Korea Heritage Service as donor.
Yunjung Lee, Director of the World Heritage Division of the Korea Heritage Service, and Amir Piric, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty, spoke.
Properties discussed included the Western Tien-Shan, shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and the Cold Winter Deserts of Turan, shared by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Tajik National Park in the Mountains of the Pamirs and the Uvs Nuur Basin were also taken up.
Representatives pointed to possible follow-up work on harmonising Tentative Lists, on sustainable tourism, invasive species and climate change, and on a shared communication platform.
Countries taking part:6
Why it matters for exams: The World Heritage Centre and IUCN are the bodies behind the World Heritage List, and Western Tien-Shan and the Cold Winter Deserts of Turan are transboundary properties Kazakhstan shares with its neighbours.
A parliamentary group named "Children of Kazakhstan" has formally started work in the Kurultai of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is led by Kurultai member Dana Medeuova. The launch took place during the Second International Forum of Commissioners for Children's Rights. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is backing the group with global expertise and technical help. The idea was shaped at a meeting on 15 September between Medeuova and the UNICEF Representative to Kazakhstan, Dr Rashed Mustafa Sarwar. The group drew on parliamentary models for children used in Japan and the Republic of Korea. It will review issues that affect children's rights and well-being and push for evidence-based policy. Its first joint session with UNICEF, to set priorities, is planned for November.
Group:Children of KazakhstanLeader:Dana Medeuova
Why it matters for exams: Kurultai is the name of Kazakhstan's parliament, and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund, headquartered in New York) is a staple exam body.
Kazakhstan's Bureau of National Statistics, which sits under the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms, publishes the statistics of the regions of the republic. Its regional page lists Astana city, Almaty city and Shymkent city separately from the regions. Seventeen regions appear alongside those three cities: Abay, Akmola, Aktobe, Almaty, Atyrau, Batys Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, Mangystau, Pavlodar, Shygys Kazakhstan, Soltustik Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Ulytau, Zhambyl and Zhetisu. The official website of the President of Kazakhstan sets out the same arrangement, counting 17 administrative zones and 3 cities of national significance. That website also records that the population of Kazakhstan exceeds 20 million people. The statistics bureau gives a population figure against every region and against each of the three cities on the same page. Almaty appears twice in different senses, once as a region and once as a city counted on its own, and the same page keeps Turkistan the region apart from Shymkent city.
Statistics body:Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and ReformsRegions:17Cities of national significance:3The three cities:Astana, Almaty, ShymkentSome of the regions listed:Abay, Zhetisu, Ulytau, TurkistanPopulation on the presidency page:Exceeds 20 million people
Why it matters for exams: Kazakhstan is divided into 17 regions with 3 cities of national significance, Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, and Abay, Zhetisu and Ulytau are among the regions its own statistics bureau lists.
The United Nations keeps the International Day against Nuclear Tests, and the observance is tied directly to Kazakhstan. The United Nations page on the day says the General Assembly declared it at its 64th session by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35. It records that the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated the resolution, together with a large number of sponsors and cosponsors. The purpose given is to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site. The page says the resolution calls for more awareness and education on what nuclear weapon test explosions, or any other nuclear explosions, bring about, and on the need to end them as one of the means of achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. The first commemoration of the day was held in 2010, and since then it has been marked with symposia, conferences, exhibits, lectures and media broadcasts. The same page names the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty as the instrument meant to put an end to every form of nuclear testing, and states that this treaty has yet to enter into force.
Observance:International Day against Nuclear TestsResolution:64/35, adopted at the 64th session of the UN General AssemblyInitiated by:The Republic of KazakhstanCommemorates:The closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test siteFirst commemoration:2010Treaty named on the page:Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, not yet in force
Why it matters for exams: The International Day against Nuclear Tests came from a General Assembly resolution initiated by Kazakhstan to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site, and the treaty named alongside it has still not entered into force.
CTBTComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty — The treaty meant to ban all nuclear explosions everywhere; the United Nations page says it has yet to enter into force.
Kazakhstan's work with UNESCO on education rests partly on a treaty about degrees earned in one country being recognised in another.
Its full name is the Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education, and it was adopted at Tokyo on 26 November 2011, so it is called the Tokyo Convention.
UNESCO says Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to ratify it.
Kazakhstan deposited its instrument of ratification with the Director-General of UNESCO on 17 March 2026, and the convention came into force for the country on 1 May 2026.
Kazakhstan entered a reservation under Article X-6, so six articles of the convention do not apply to it.
Sayasat Nurbek, the Minister of Higher Education and Science of Kazakhstan, spoke for the government on the ratification.
Amir Piric, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty, welcomed the step.
UNESCO says the convention itself entered into force in 2018.
Adopted at:Tokyo, 26 November 2011In force for Kazakhstan:1 May 2026
Why it matters for exams: The Tokyo Convention is the UNESCO regional treaty on recognising higher education qualifications across Asia and the Pacific.
Tokyo ConventionAsia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education — A UNESCO treaty under which countries of Asia and the Pacific recognise each other's higher education qualifications.
Kazakhstan's current work with UNESCO on Education for Sustainable Development sits alongside a longer effort on teachers that the same Almaty office runs.
UNESCO's Regional Office in Almaty works on teacher leadership in Kazakhstan with two partners, Teach for Qazaqstan and TeachersLab.
The idea they work on is called Non-Positional Teacher Leadership (NPTL): any teacher can lead meaningful change in a school whatever their formal role or experience.
The concept was presented by Dr David Frost of the University of Cambridge at a session of the Teach for Qazaqstan Summer Institute.
Meirgul Alpysbayeva, National Professional Officer for Education at the UNESCO Almaty Office, sets out this teacher leadership work.
She introduced the Rural and Remote Area Schools (RARS) project, which aimed to create professional communities of teachers in rural and remote schools through non-positional teacher leadership.
Teachers and methodologists take part, presenting teacher-led development projects and working through classroom and school-level problems.
UNESCO has said it will continue the partnership with Teach for Qazaqstan and TeachersLab, to support teachers' professional development and improve education quality in Kazakhstan's rural schools.
UNESCO's partners in Kazakhstan on teacher leadership:2 - Teach for Qazaqstan and TeachersLab
Why it matters for exams: Non-Positional Teacher Leadership and the Rural and Remote Area Schools project are the durable facts here, and they show how UNESCO's Regional Office in Almaty works with national partners on teachers.