Kazakhstan’s kindergartens are short of 18,000 specialists, and a further 20,000 staff will be needed by 2030. The sharpest shortage is of speech therapists, absent in 52% of institutions.
According to Ministry of Education data presented at a Mazhilis committee session, the shortage breaks down as follows: speech therapists are missing in 52% of institutions, defectologists in 47% and educators in 32%. The figures were presented by deputy Ekaterina Smolyakova. Source: Vlast.kz, 2 June 2026.
The narrowing of the workforce pipeline was also noted. State grants for preschool pedagogy fell from 1,382 in 2023–24 to 871 in 2024–25 and 738 in 2025–26. Over four years, only about 700 of 2,053 graduates went on to work in the sector — roughly 30%.
The concept sets specific tasks on this: developing professional competency standards for preschool teachers; delivering professional certification and in-service training through the SRO; developing staffing-schedule standards for the various forms of preschool organisation; and securing international mobility for teaching staff — including inclusive-education tutors — through joint procedures with foreign bodies.
