ASTANA ( WNAM MONITORING ): The Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry, in partnership with the Astana Hub technopark of IT startups, implements major free educational projects in artificial intelligence (AI), covering schoolchildren, students, adults, and civil servants throughout the country, the ministry’s press service reported on July 23.
Starting this October, the TUMO center for creative technologies will open in Astana, offering a free educational platform for schoolchildren aged 12 to 18. Located at the Alem.ai International Center, the program covers 11 fields, including generative AI, game development, animation, 3D modeling, and robotics. The center aims to train 5,000 students annually and plans to expand nationwide, including remote regions, within three to five years.
Since 2021, nearly 10,000 people have received free IT training through the Tech Orda program, which collaborates with 72 private IT schools. Courses last from six months and cover programming, big data, and cybersecurity, with an 88% job placement rate among graduates.
Tomorrow School, the first AI school in Kazakhstan, offers a two-year program without teachers, utilizing a peer-to-peer model. Students complete over 50 projects and learn up to 20 programming languages. The school provides free tuition, a 24/7 campus, expert guest lectures, student clubs, and complimentary accommodation in apartments for students from regional areas.
Notably, 30% of students are women. Additionally, the IT-Áiel project has been implemented in partnership with TechnoWomen for the third year. It has trained 5,500 women from across Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, Astana Hub offers three free online courses accessible via its mobile app in the AI Movement section. Those looking to test their skills can participate in Decentrathon 4.0, the country’s largest hackathon to be held this September, with over 2,500 participants and cash prizes expected.
If specialists do not yet have their team or project, they can join the AI Preneurs program, which brings together talented participants to create innovative AI startups.
In May, Kazakhstan held its first national AI Olympiad for students in grades 9 to 12, known as the AI Olymp. Out of 683 participants, 40 reached the finals held at Astana IT University. Twelve winners have been invited to training camps to prepare for the International AI Olympiad in Beijing.
The AI Qyzmet program has been launched to improve the efficiency of public services. Central Eurasia’s first initiative to integrate AI tools into routine, it has already trained over 16,000 civil servants through short video lectures and aims to reach 30,000 specialists per year.
