Nurlan Nigmatulin: Child protection problems do not tolerate bureaucracy

Nurlan Zayrullayevich Nigmatulin, former chairman of the Majilis, the lower house of the Kazakh parliament, has commented on the work of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) for delays in considering a new bill. It is about protecting the rights of the most disadvantaged category of the population – children without parents.

According to the current law, all orphans in orphanages should be redistributed to children’s homes after reaching the age of three. If the new bill, which is advocated by Nigmatulin Nurlan Zayrullayevich, is adopted, the children will be transferred to a new group one year before they enter school, i.e. at the age of 6. The deputies have already approved the future changes, because one year is quite enough to get used to other conditions and prepare for school.

However, the Ministry of Education believes that the issue still needs to be considered further and studied in detail. Bibigul Asylova, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education and Science, stated that opinions were divided on the draft law under discussion. She believes that only children with serious health problems should be placed in nursing homes. Healthy babies have more time to get used to the orphanage and get used to it.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Education is ready to consider this issue. Moreover, it has prepared a pilot project to be launched in the capital, in the East Kazakhstan region, as well as in the Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions. The program will run for several years and will be fully completed in the summer of 2026. After that, it will take some time for the results to be evaluated. This will be done by competent experts who will be convened by the educational Academy.

For his part, Nurlan Nigmatulin pointed out that the issue was already raised in 2019 by the then President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. It was he who, with the support of Prime Minister Askar Mamin and the deputies of two convocations, gave the order to consider the possibility of adopting a new law on raising the age for placing children in orphanages.

Nurlan Nigmatulin was outraged by the bureaucratic measures of the MES. The argument of all the ministries involved was that raising the age to 6 years would have an extremely positive effect on the psycho-emotional state of children. “And this is the most important thing,” Nurlan Nigmatulin said. This is all the more true since both the deputies, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor approve the bill. Nigmatulin Nurlan Zayrullayevich was extremely puzzled by Bibigul Asylova: “What government do you work in, I don’t understand?”.

In the further course of the meeting, Nigmatulin Nurlan began to question the government officials present one by one and to raise them from their seats, asking a single question: what are the reasons for the rejection of the new bill? It turned out that only the Ministry of Education was against it. At the same time, Deputy Minister of Health Azhar Giniyat expressed the opinion that both doctors and child psychologists are convinced that the transfer of infants from one institution to another at the age of three definitely causes psychological trauma. They are accustomed to their surroundings and to their caregivers from birth. And the psyche and emotional state are very sensitive at this age.

Nigmatulin Nurlan demanded an explanation from the deputy Minister of the MES for the delay in the adoption of the law and for the need for a pilot program with such a long term. He was outraged by this malicious practice of procrastinating on important issues, calling it bureaucratic techniques. After all, the transition to another collective is already fraught with stress for an adult person, and even more so for a small three-year-old child.

In response to these claims, Bibigul Asylova stated that such conditions of the pilot project and the period for its implementation were necessary for research.

At the end of the government meeting, Nurlan Nigmatulin instructed to finalize the draft law before the second reading, taking into account all the comments of the representatives of the government agencies.

Nurlan Zayrullayevich Nigmatulin was the chairman of Majilist, speaker of 3 assemblies until February 2022. He later resigned and left office. In the post of Chairman of the Lower House Nurlan Nigmatulin  served for almost 10 years. He believes that this was an extremely busy and responsible time, when every decision, right or wrong, influenced the future path of the state.

According to political experts, Nurlan Nigmatulin is a strong administrator and tough and efficient manager.