Education
How Kusto Group founder, Yerkin Tatishev, Embraced Education
Yerkin Tatishev of Kusto Group has voiced his opinion on how Kazakhstan’s education system should change in order to be able to compete with other countries.
Throughout his career, Yerkin Tatishev has put a lot of emphasis on the importance of high-quality education. As the founder of the holding company Kusto Group, he has initiated several endeavors that have promoted this cause – primarily in his native Kazakhstan.
Yerkin Tatishev has also made his opinion about education in his home country clear on multiple occasions.
At the end of 2019, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its PISA study, and the results for Kazakhstan did not look good. In fact, the country experienced its worst performance since it began taking part in the study.
The PISA study is a global test that measures students’ performances in science, reading and math in 79 countries. Out of the 79 nations, Kazakhstan came in 69th.
The Kazakhstani government blamed the results on technical difficulties due to the fact that the tests were done on computers for the first time. However, Yerkin Tatishev said that the country needed to revamp and modernize its educational programs to succeed globally.
“If we continue in the same way, we will have an uneducated population. We will have graduates who have the skills of 14-15-year-olds at 18. The wave of social problems will grow because education is not a ‘crust’. It is the ability to think, analyze, solve complex problems and understand how to build your life,” he said back then.
“The world becomes more and more turbulent. Abrupt changes in exchange rates and prices for oil and other resources. Epidemics, political and economic crises, and there will be more and more of such fluctuations. This must be accepted as part of life. There will be no stability. We must not only survive these storms, but move from survival to creation, and this requires the right quality education,” he added.
Yerkin Tatishev introduces ground-breaking educational principles
Before the PISA study was published, Yerkin Tatishev had already worked on a solution. It was called the High Tech Academy and was inaugurated in 2017 just outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Being part of Kusto Group’s Koktobe City project, which is largely inspired by Europe, High Tech Academy is based on other values and principles than other schools in the country.
The High Tech Academy is, for instance, one of the first Central Asian schools to work with project-based learning as well as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
Yerkin Tatishev introduced these methods because he believes that by solving real-life problems, students will be better prepared for the issues that occur out in the real world.
Yerkin Tatishev asserts that by implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) throughout Kazakhstan, the country’s education system could undergo significant improvement.
SEL enables students to:
- Acquire and effectively apply knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary for understanding and managing emotions
- Setting and achieving goals
- Displaying empathy
- Fostering positive relationships
- Making responsible decisions
- Accepting diverse backgrounds
Research indicates that SEL not only enhances academic learning outcomes but also elevates future income levels and enhances career readiness.
Additionally, it fosters a more favorable school climate and strengthens teacher-student relationships. The approach has also demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing emotional distress among students as well as incidents of bullying and behavioral problems.
“Teach less, learn more”
Being very passionate about education, Yerkin Tatishev once met with Singapore’s Deputy Minister of Education and took a valuable motto with him back to Kazakhstan.
“Teach less, learn more,” the deputy minister told him.
At the High Tech Academy, what the students learn is more important to Yerkin Tatishev than how they are taught.
He has not only drawn inspiration from Singapore for Koktobe City’s school but also from Europe.
The High Tech Academy consists of five distinct blocks: the preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school and the Budokan sports and arts center. All of the blocks are connected by an atrium.
Each block is furnished with designated areas for lockers, clothing hangers and shoe shelves. The school’s interior has been intentionally designed to adhere to the Finnish shoe-free method, a common practice in schools in the Nordic country, allowing students to move around without shoes.
To prioritize optimal lighting, Yerkin Tatishev incorporated light wells in the center of each block, aiming to maximize the use of natural light in the buildings.
Kusto Group also prioritized environmental sustainability in the construction of High Tech Academy, consciously opting for eco-friendly construction materials whenever possible.
For the false ceilings, sawdust was chosen as a sustainable option, while the flooring was crafted using natural viscose to achieve a linoleum-like appearance. The building design maximizes natural light penetration through skylights and large windows.
In order to save electricity, the school has gas-powered, water-heated floors.
Additionally, environmental projects are integrated into the curriculum, allowing students aged 5 to 18 to showcase their innovative solutions to environmental challenges on an annual basis.
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