More than 600 young individuals have taken advantage of educational benefits following their military service.
Since last year, the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan has been implementing a project aimed at increasing motivation for military service by providing educational benefits to citizens who have completed their military service, as reported by Sarbaz.kz, citing the press service of the ministry.
First-year students at Astana IT University, Aidar Nausha, Amir Kairov, and Adilet Kudashev, have become the fortunate recipients of certificates for free higher education. Aidar Nausha served in the Air Defense Forces of the Kazakhstan Army and is currently pursuing a degree in "media technologies."
"When the lists of accepted students were published, I woke up my entire family in the middle of the night to share the joy. My time in the army has not gone unnoticed; I have developed both physically and spiritually. I entered the Armed Forces as a private and returned home as a corporal; I plan to attain the rank of lieutenant at the university," shared the student.
A total of 604 Kazakhstan citizens have taken the opportunity to enroll in higher education institutions without taking the Unified National Testing (UNT) exam. Among the universities, the distribution looks as follows: 19 students were accepted into Al-Farabi Kazakh National University on a free basis, 17 into L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, 15 into South Kazakhstan University named after M. Auezov, and 10 into Taraz University.
On a paid basis, without considering the UNT exam, 73 individuals were admitted to Kokshetau University named after A. Myrzakhmetov, 45 to Taraz University, 51 to the International Taraz Innovative Institute named after Sh. Murzatay, and 35 to Kyzylorda University named after Korkyt Ata.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan, legislative measures are being taken to regulate the process of granting scholarships to this category of students, including provisions for dormitory accommodation and stipends.
"The selection of military personnel for free education is carried out through the 'Conscripts 2.0' information system, available on the Ministry of Defense's portal. Currently, 38,316 conscripted soldiers are registered on this platform. Planned work is being carried out to input assessment indicators for 13,805 conscripts from the 'Autumn 2022' draft. The allocation of quotas for them is scheduled for October to November of this year. The registration of conscripts for the 'Spring 2023' draft is ongoing. At the moment, more than 11,948 individuals have been registered," the statement reads.
Currently, in addition to the Ministry of Defense, the National Guard and the State Protection Service are participating in the project. In the future, the Border Service of the National Security Committee (KNB) and the Ministry of Emergency Situations will also be connected to the "Conscripts 2.0" system. To check the availability of a certificate, individuals can enter their details - surname, first name, and patronymic - in the "Search" section of the "Conscripts 2.0" system and click "Find." It should also be noted that young people can use the certificate for up to two years.
