On Thursday, Nov. 28, the Deputy Prime Minister Berdibek Saparbayev held a conference call on child safety with the participation of heads of state and law enforcement agencies, deputy akims of the regions, the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Shymkent.

According to the Vice Minister of Education and Science Sholpan Karinova, for 10 months of 2019, 1,931 crimes against minors were registered in the country, which is at the level of the same period last year. Growth is noted in Almaty — 46.6%, Zhambyl — 27.8%, Atyrau regions — 23%.

The vice minister noted that one of the measures to ensure the safety of children is to equip educational institutions with video cameras. Thus, 74.5% of preschool institutions and almost 80% of schools are equipped with video surveillance systems. A low percentage of security is noted in the North Kazakhstan region, Akmola and Kostanay regions.

Moreover, over 33% of schools have outdoor toilets. In particular, 60.3% of schools in Turkistan region, 59.7% in Zhambyl, and 54.6% in Almaty. An additional 186 school buses are required for transporting children.

Sholpan Karinova also outlined a number of questions regarding children's suicides, deaths and injuries of children. In order to solve these problems, a Roadmap is being developed to strengthen the protection of the rights of minors, to combat domestic violence and to solve the problems of suicidal ideation among adolescents.

In particular, it envisages strengthening parental responsibility and the activity of the school psychological service, toughening the responsibility for violence against women and children, providing stationary systems for photo and video recording of traffic violations near educational institutions and places of mass visits to children.

It is also expected to increase responsibility for the installation, operation and technical condition of children's attractions and trampolines.

Vice Minister of Internal Affairs Arystanghali Zapparov noted a 4% increase in the number of crimes against sexual inviolability of minors, including rape by 40% and sexual violence by 24%.

An increase in crimes against the sexual integrity of minors is observed in West Kazakhstan Region by 140%, Pavlodar — 75%, Kostanay — 54%, Almaty — 49%, Zhambyl — 28% and Akmola regions — 17%.

“About 75% of crimes were committed by persons from close circle: fathers, stepfathers, cohabitants, relatives, neighbors and acquaintances. In turn, parents in order to avoid legal consequences do not report these facts to law enforcement bodies,” Zapparov noted.

According to him, teenage crime is reduced annually by an average of 6%, and over the past period of the current year by 9%.

“Almost all crimes are committed by students of schools or colleges — 88%. The growth of crimes committed by students is recorded in the Zhambyl region by 30%, Mangystau — 18% and Kyzylorda — 13%. 15 crimes were committed within the walls of educational institutions,” he added.

Also Zapparov focused on the need to improve the level of security in educational institutions.

“On the national scale, only 8% or 535 schools have agreements with security companies. The rest of the schools are guarded, in most cases guards are pensioners. Not a single agreement has been concluded with security companies in Aktobe, Almaty, Atyrau, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, Mangystau, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan regions and the city of Shymkent,” he said.

To maintain law and order in the territories of schools, units of school police inspectors were introduced, of which today there are more than 2 thousand. However, almost the same number are still missing.

Having listened to the speakers' reports, Berdibek Saparbayev emphasized that the tragic incidents involving children are the result of the lack of coordinated, preventive and systematic work of the responsible state bodies.

“The safety of our children will always be in the first place for us. The problem is that we work as a fire brigade. We react after the tragedy. The most convenient answer is that there is no money. But this is the answer of managers who do not want to solve problems. All akims were ordered before Sep. 1, 2020, to equip schools with warm toilets and video recording systems, to provide specialized security services,” Saparbayev emphasized.

Also, by March 1, 2020, the ministries of the interior and education and science, as well as local executive bodies, have been instructed to resolve the issue of providing schools with police inspectors from internal reserves.

The deputy prime minister drew attention to the issues of fencing electric networks and transformers, installing fences along the perimeter of educational institutions, strengthening safety measures for children on the roads, equipping carbon monoxide detectors and gas analyzers of residential buildings of socially vulnerable categories of citizens, etc.

In addition, the meeting addressed the issues of paying off wage arrears, ensuring timely social contributions, the quality of medical services and medicines.