Teachanywhere takes on Kazakhstan - and loves it!

Notes from the General Manager by Diane Jacoutot 

I just returned from a trip to Kazakhstan. Well technically I’ve not returned yet- I’m writing this on the plane. But I’m very excited and can’t wait to share.

Because in my job with Teachanywhere, I travel quite a bit- visiting schools and regions worldwide. But rarely do I get as surprised by a place as I have been by Kazakhstan this week.

When I write “Kazakhstan”, what pops into your mind? Borat in a mankini? A poor ex-soviet country with cold snowy winds blowing over vast empty steppes?  Yup, me too. Before this trip that is. I even researched a bit beforehand to find out more, but found very little recent information and almost nothing reassuring besides a National Geographic article that landed on my doorstep in January which I could not quite believe hadn’t been extensively photoshopped.

What I found when I stepped off the plane was entirely surprising. Well, except for the snow but I’ll get to that in a minute.

I found a wealthy country rich in oil and minerals intent on looking forward, grasping the 21^st century with both hands, whilst also simultaneously looking backwards at its Soviet-repressed deep Kazakh cultural traditions and language, and bringing them along for the ride. It has a stable government, happy, confident and well educated citizens,  hungry for the best new ideas, and possessing the means to import what they don’t currently have – new teaching pedagogy, top architects, and even, as I found on my inspection of a supermarket, Coco Pops cereal and Heinz Ketchup. 

I visited the new capital city of Astana and found a city transformed in the past decade from a sleepy backwater railway junction to a vast humming city with fantastical skyscrapers, top notch sports facilities (the cycling world cup was just held recently there in a state of the art velodrome shaped like a bicycle helmet for instance) and leisure facilities such as an award winning eco-friendly glass shopping mall cum amusement park shaped like a Kazakh tent, complete with an indoor water park on the top floor and monorail system.  Much of the architecture is inspired by other landmarks including a Louvre-like glass pyramid, the president’s palace is reminiscent of the US capitol, the Central Concert hall giving a nod to the Sydney Opera house, and a Moscow inspired office building that would not be out of place in Gotham City. Top architects from around the world have contributed to the growing skyline, including British Norman Foster and Japanese Kisho Kurokawa. It’s quite Dubai and Singapore-like in its love of OTT.

What was different than Dubai and Singapore was that this programme of reinvestment of wealth and the building of a fantastical city does not seem to have been done for the usual reasons – to attract foreign tourist money. Indeed, foreigners are rare here and treated per Kazakh tradition, as “a gift from God”. All the foreign teachers I spoke with told of being openly welcomed and developing many good Kazakh friends quickly and easily.  Everyone, it seems, wants to find out more about you and practice their English.

So instead of luring foreign tourists, the Kazakhs seem to be building Astana for themselves. Perhaps it is being been done as a reflection of their infectious optimism, their sky high aspirations for their new place on the international scene, or  because perhaps simply because they can.    

Education is a top priority for the Kazakh president Nazarbayev and his government, and billions have been invested in building new school facilities – university, secondary and primary and they are driving to create not just a bilingual system by overlaying Kazakh on top of the long required Russian language, but now a tri-lingual system with English – the language of international business- as well.  

What, besides the winter weather, is not to like?

Teachanywhere have a number of interesting jobs in Kazakhstan this week and I encourage you to have a look. Yes it is cold and snowy during the winter which runs from November to March. Yes, the infrastructure is developing –this is not for teachers who want the finished product. But what an amazing opportunity this is for teachers who want to see this Eurasian butterfly emerge. Because I have a feeling that with the financial resources, strong work ethic, resilient optimism of the citizens, and with the strong governmental focus behind them, this transformation will be over in the blink of an eye.