Astana, 4 November, . About 30 heads of private children’s clubs, sports clubs and learning centres came to the Astana akimat on 4 November demanding a review of the rules under which children’s attendance is confirmed by facial recognition, and some of those gathered were taken to the police.
No meeting with the deputy akim had been arranged in advance, the city education department said, and officials of the department and of the city centre for additional education spoke with the service providers. According to the department, after the conversation those gathered continued to express disagreement and disturbed public order, so they were taken to the Saryarka district police department, and official warnings were issued to some of them. According to NewTimes.kz, more than 20 people were taken to the station.
The dispute concerns a pilot project on a single state order for children’s additional education, running in Astana since 2025: the budget pays clubs for each child separately, and attendance is confirmed by electronic means. Facial recognition is provided for by sub-paragraph 21 of paragraph 40 of the project’s Algorithm, approved by joint orders of state bodies of 28–30 May 2025 No. 75, No. 125, No. 251-NK and No. 266/NK, and by paragraph 9 of the accession agreement; QR codes are allowed alongside biometrics. The akimat explains that the measure is needed for transparency of budget spending and to rule out fictitious records and payment for classes that never took place. The system currently runs in two private organisations, the equipment was supplied free of charge, no budget money was spent on it, and children’s personal data is processed under the law “On Personal Data and Their Protection”. No complaints from parents or children were received during the pilot, the akimat added.
Club heads cite other reasons for their discontent. According to Alia Ismailova, head of the Yerkem-ai creative centre, entrepreneurs were shown a contract under which the equipment is serviced free for only two months, and they fear that repairs and support will then fall on them; they propose moving the system to the balance of the education department. When attendance is marked, she said, the phone’s geolocation will be checked to see whether the child is at the right branch, although not all children have phones, and the check, as she was told, will be run through the Yandex.Cloud service; who will have access to the data was not explained. One provider, by her account, lost eight children after the equipment was installed: parents asked why someone should see their child’s geolocation. Another fear: if a class is rescheduled or a child comes with a different group, the system will not count the visit, and the club will go unpaid for a class that was held.
What it means: The authorities want to see that a child really came to a class paid for by the state, while the clubs object to biometrics and geolocation, to paying for equipment maintenance and to the risk of going unpaid for a rescheduled class.
Who benefits: According to the akimat, the budget: fewer payments for classes that did not take place. Club heads say there is no gain for them, only costs and risks. Who will pay for the equipment’s maintenance after the free two months is not stated in the akimat’s statements.
Background: Video recording of children has already been tried in the regions: in kindergartens in Kyzylorda region Face Control has run as a pilot since July 2023, with 97 million tenge provided for it from the budget; when extension of the system to free clubs was announced there, parents were outraged, and the education department said it takes 5–7 seconds per child.
