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According to teachers of general education schools, there are not enough classrooms for primary classes due to the increase in the number of first-graders. The problem was voiced by teachers in the capital during the discussion of projects of educational institutions being built within the framework of the pilot national project "Comfortable School". The meeting was organised on the initiative of Samruk-Kazyna Construction.

"In our school the number of first classes is 16. There are 35-40 children in classrooms designed for 25 students. Every year high school students graduate and there are fewer of them, while there are more primary school students. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the number of classrooms for the primary level," said Karlygash Mukusheva, a primary school teacher at Lyceum No. 89 in the capital.

The comfortable schools won't have this problem because the 2,000-seat schools will have primary school classrooms on three floors, SK Construction head Maulen Aimanbetov said. There will be more than enough classrooms.

In addition to primary school teachers, subject teachers, including teachers of chemistry, biology, geography, informatics, science and technology, as well as school principals and their deputies, representatives of the Astana Education Department and the Ministry of Education were invited to the meeting with the Chairman of the Board. They familiarised themselves with the designs of comfortable schools in detail. Designers of Samruk-Kazyna Construction presented detailed planning plans, architectural solutions, facade and interior design of new modern educational institutions.

"We decided to discuss all issues personally with you, teachers, as you know better than others the inner kitchen of the school and preferences of children. Your opinion is important for us. I hope for an open, honest and constructive dialogue. Only together we will be able to successfully implement such a large-scale project, and our schools will really be comfortable," Maulen Aimanbetov said in his speech.

Teachers openly made comments and suggestions, actively discussed and shared ideas on how to improve the layout and equipment of comfortable schools. For example, there were suggestions to move the cloakroom to the basement floor and make it wider to avoid crowding in the morning.

Teachers liked the idea of dividing the school into blocks, where the younger grades have a separate entrance with their own cloakroom, gymnasium, canteen and pass system. Teachers and planners agreed that this will not only allow to evenly distribute the flow of students, but will also prevent bullying among children, as primary school students will not overlap with high school students.

Zhanna Khabibullina, a chemistry teacher at Lyceum No. 37 in the capital city, asked for separate areas for laboratory work in chemistry, physics and biology classes.

The following comments and suggestions were also made during the discussion:

• to locate the social pedagogue's office on the ground floor of the school;
• to paint the ceilings of classrooms in white colour, as it has a positive effect on the psycho-emotional state of schoolchildren;
• emphasise national style in the design of classrooms, corridors, co-working areas and other spaces;
• in addition to canteens in the co-working areas, equip a buffet for snacks;
• increase book storage;
• reduce the number of small architectural forms on the territories of comfort schools and instead organise zones for educational games.

The Chairman of the Board instructed the designers to take into account all the teachers' suggestions. In general, the teachers were satisfied with the quality of the design. Similar meetings, including videoconference meetings, will be held regularly until the full approval of the design plans for the comfort schools. As a result of discussions, it was decided to create a separate chat room in messenger, which will include subject teachers from all over Kazakhstan. This will speed up the discussion and involve as many teachers of secondary schools as possible in this process.