Implementation of information and communication technology in educational system of Kazakhstan: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Information and Communication technologies (ICT) play a significant role in the educational process becoming a powerful tool of interaction between teachers and students; computer applications are used to present useful teaching resources and to improve knowledge of students. This article aims to examine the educational policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of Information and Communication technology implementation. In this regard, we analyze the level of computerization of schools and universities in Kazakhstan, the teachers’ competencies, and computer literacy of population. Based on data and information from official documents, reports, and official sources of education, we concluded that the Government of Kazakhstan tries to create the “digital society” and to increase the quality of education using ICT. The results of the analysis reveal that Kazakhstan make greater effort on using ICT in the education process and the policy is aimed at increasing the number of computers in schools, opening new specialties at the universities related to information and communication technologies, as well as enhancing computer literacy of the population. However, due to the lack of funding and the comprehensive work on the training and retraining of teachers, the low speed of the Internet in some regions of the country, this process needs to be improved.