Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation launched implementation of the Jas Leader Akademiiasy programme (Academy of Young Leaders) in the spiritual capital of the Turkic world – city of Turkestan. The programme’s objective is to support and develop leadership qualities in pupils of grades 5-11. Children will be taught in-demand skills that are not studied at school: these are skills of communication, public speaking, planning and time management, self-presentation and development of assertiveness.
From 26 July teachers – future trainers in Jas Leader Akademiiasy – started their training for trainers programme. Within a month 100 teachers from 50 pilot schools in Turkestan, the Turkestan Oblast and the city of Shymkent will undertake the training where they will be familiarized with the extra-curriculum programme and will learn the specifics of running the course. Resource books were developed in the Kazakh language especially for teachers of Kazakh schools. The training takes place not in the format of lectures, to which everyone is accustomed, but in an easily understood interactive form.
“One of the exercises on the first day helped me to see my profession in a new light, now I can be not just a teacher but also a mentor for my pupils,” shared her impressions one of the participants of the training for trainers from Turkestan.
Upon completion of the training teachers will be able to hold extra-curriculum classes under the Jas Leader Akademiiasy programme in their schools and will get a full information pack for their further work during the next academic year for pupils in grade 5-11.
“The role of teacher in Jas Leader Akademiiasy is given a special meaning. A trainer in our programme does not dominate over participants but is at one level with them. He helps them to get information, gain knowledge and experience acting not from a position of “superior to inferior”, but from the position of “equal to equal”, said Marat Aitmagambetov, director of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation.
Over 15 000 schoolchildren in Turkestan, the Turkestan Oblast and Shymkent will be the first to start their education in Jas Leader Akademiiasy. Within the next five years, the geography of the programme will gradually extend for Zhambyl, Kyzylorda, Atyrau, Mangistau, West Kazakhstan, Aktobe and Almaty Oblasts, and the total budget of the programme will comprise 5 million US dollars.
The President’s Cup that included two men’s Challengers and one women’s tournament of the ITF W60 series finished in Nur-Sultan on 25 July.
This year, when other countries refuse from holding tennis tournaments due to the pandemic, Kazakhstan is hosting the whole series of international level competitions ensuring safety of players. From February to May only, the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation held several professional tournaments of the ATP Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour series.
Summer is no less intense. The games started with the two-week Beeline Challenger 80 – two tournaments of the ATP series (the highest level world tennis tour organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals). Here, the minimum prize fund starts at $ 52,000. The winner gets 80 points. For participants, this is an opportunity to play with strong opponents, go up in the rankings and earn generous prize money.
“It is necessary to mention the games played by our athletes – Dmitry Popko, Denis Yevseyev, Grigoriy Lomakin, Dostanbek Tashbulatov, Timofey Skatov. Popko reached the semifinals of Beeline Open Challenger 80 Almaty, and Skatov reached the final. Unfortunately, he lost in the final, but this is still a very good result, because he moved up in the overall rating. After all, why are these tournaments held? So that our athletes gain experience, earn a rating that will allow them to participate in more prestigious tournaments,” explains director of the Kazakhstan Tennis Tour Dmitry Savchuk.
Timofey Skatov
In addition, tennis players can get a Wild Card (“free card”) at these tournaments, which gives a player with a not high enough rating an opportunity to take part in the tournament without going through the qualification.
“When we hold such tournaments at home, we can give our athletes wild cards. Thus, players get through to the main tournament and get a chance to beat opponents and win first points. In addition, we have a programme of exchange of wild cards with other countries, i.e. our athletes can take part in tournaments held in other countries as exchange. Currently, there are not many tournaments across the world due the pandemic, therefore we are trying to support our athletes, give them more experience, opportunities to develop their ratings and to take part in other tournaments through exchange,” says Dmitry Savchuk.
The level of such tournaments implies participation of players from the top-300 world rating. This year’s Beeline Challenger 80 was attended by sportsmen from various corners of the globe (France, Germany, Russia, America and Asian countries).
Tournaments with a 30-year history were named after the Kazakh khans and the Saka queen
International games within the President’s Cup started in Nur-Sultan on 10 July. This year the tournaments were given names: the women’s tournament – Tomiris W60, two men’s tournaments – Kerey80 and Zhanibek80.
“The President’s Cup is an event with a 30-year history, there is no single other tournament that has been held in the years of Kazakhstan’s independence longer than that. The names of the President’s Cup tournaments are a direct reference to the past as a link between generations, to the history when the Kazakh Khanate was established by Kerey and Zhanibek. That is why their names were chosen as the names of men’s tournaments, and the women’s one is called Tomiris in honor of the Saka queen,” – explains Pavel Tsybulin, head of the PR, marketing and information section of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, to explain the names of the tournaments.
The next novelty of the President’s Cup is the addition of another men’s tournament initiated by the ATP. If previously there were two tournaments – men’s, category 80, with a prize fund of 52 thousand dollars, and women’s, with a prize fund of 60 thousand dollars, now there are two men’s Challengers and a women’s tournament with a total prize fund of 164 thousand dollars. This year the tournaments are attended by athletes from 15-20 countries.
But more than 10 years ago, our players could not have dreamed of holding international tournaments in Kazakhstan. At that time, the country had no courts that met world standards. When the lead of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation has been taken by philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov, the situation changed dramatically. Tennis bases that meet high requirements started to open in the regions.
“Until 2007-2008, there were neither so many tennis bases in Kazakhstan, nor players, and the development of tennis itself was, let’s say, not in the priority. Now, if we compare the CIS countries, then Kazakhstan is in the first place, because cool tennis bases with outdoor and indoor courts, with all the infrastructure have been built in each region. The Kazakhstan Tennis Federation is doing everything so that our young generation grows up, develops and turns into professionals,” emphasises Dmitry Savchuk.
The athletes’ achievements speak for themselves. It’s useful enough to recall the last performance of Kazakhstanis at one of the prestigious Grand Slam tournaments in France – Roland Garros, which took place in Paris in June. Our players Andrey Golubev and Alexander Bublik in a pair made a historical sensation: for the first time in the history of Kazakhstani tennis they reached the final of the French Open in men’s doubles.
Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev reached the final of Roland Garros in doubles
Also, good results are shown most recently by the pair of Andrey Golubev and Alexandr Nedovyesov. Our female tennis players – Elena Rybakina, Zarina Diyas, Yuliya Putintseva, Yaroslava Shvedova conquer new heights. The junior players are not far behind too.
By the way, as soon as in August Kazakhstan will host two tournaments: the Tennis Europe Junior Tour for 12-year-olds in Nur-Sultan and the Asian ATF Junior tournament for 14-year-olds in Shymkent. Tennis fans will also see another women’s ITF-25 tournament in the last month of summer. The plans are to hold the largest and most titled international tournament in Kazakhstan in September, but we will tell about it later.
Tennis player Mikhail Kukushkin commented on the record number of Olympic passes won by Kazakhstani seeds.
– This is a unique event for the Kazakhstan tennis. In the first turn, this emphasises that all the work of the country’s Tennis Federation done by the Federation’s President, Bulat Zhamitovich Utemuratov, over the past 14 years, is being carried out in the right way and is bearing fruit.
Until recently, we could not even dream of eight licences for the Olympics. It’s just great! In 2012, when I first participated in the Olympic Games, I was the only one on the part of men from Kazakhstan. Now our tennis is on the great rise.
Women have quite open draw at any big tournament, and almost any female tennis player of a good level can win. For example, I believe that our Lena Rybakina has very good chances; she has been playing really well in recent years, she is in the leading roles. I think she has a chance for a medal.
Low-income families will get 900 tons of compound feed that will be sufficient until next May. Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation will channel over 200 million tenge to victims of draught in the Aral District, reports zakon.kz referring to the Foundation press service.
The money will be transferred to the public fund “Aralym-Aidyn shalkarym” which will distribute them for the urgent needs of the affected people. There is a pressing problem of livestock access to water and food security in the region due to the prolonged drought. At the moment, mortality of over 500 heads of livestock has already been recorded in the district.
As part of the aid rendered by Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation, 800 low-income families in the Aral District will receive 900 tons of compound feed. This volume will be sufficient for the period from November 2021 to May 2022.
New water wells to preserve the livestock and to water pastures in the region, as well as cleaning of canals and repair of drainage structures are needed. The “Aspay” water-retaining structure will be restored on the Syrdarya river in the area of the Amanotkel settlement, which will allow raising the water level and filling the Kamystybas and Akshatau lake systems; wells will be drilled, including in the remote aul (rural) district of Bel Aran, which currently has no drinking water – residents use a well located 35 kilometers away.
In addition, they will buy tractors, hay mowers, plows, balers for rural consumer cooperatives in aul districts could harvest fodder. To provide watering for livestock on distant districts, water carrier trucks will be purchased, and diesel pumps will be procured to water pastures and hayfields. Control over the spending of funds and the distribution of fodder will be carried out by a specially formed commission of members of the public.
At the first stage, greenhouses will be installed at 16 schools in Almaty. Later they will appear at the educational institutions in Nur-Sultan and Shymkent.
Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundationannounced the launch of the “Green Schools” project.
The first stage of the project will start in Almaty where Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation will install greenhouses at 16 public schools. In the next two years, Nur-Sultan and Shymkent will join the initiative installing 40 more greenhouses. The first greenhouse opened at School No.177 in the Turksib District of Almaty.
Extracurricular activities within the framework of this initiative will be held in the new academic year for pupils in grades 5-7 at 16 public schools in Almaty. The total budget of the programme designed for three years will be about 2 million dollars.
Greenhouses will be used for extracurricular activities of schoolchildren
“Green” technologies and ecological thinking is a global trend that becomes an integral part of our everyday life. Therefore, it is important to educate children from an early age in the spirit of ecoculture and to teach them take care of the environment, noted the Foundation.
“The Foundation has got an experience in implementation of projects in the field of conservation of the green fund of the country. In 2020, we have implemented a large-scale reconstruction of the Central Botanical Garden of Almaty. We tried and involved the best experts in horticulture and agronomy, and farmers of the Almaty Oblast engaged in organic agriculture, in the “Green Schools” project. Our big goal is to introduce lessons in greenhouses into the school curriculum for ensuring sustainability of the project in future,” said Marat Aitmagambetov, Director of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation.
All greenhouses are equipped with modern systems of drip irrigation, heating and lighting. Sixty metres long phytolines with blue and red diodes are responsible for the light that is useful for plants, which supports the biosynthesis and vegetation of plants, improves their growth and increases yields. To prevent freezing of vegetables and berry crops in winter, infrared heaters were installed and a heating cable was laid in the soil. Operation of the heaters depends on the data of indoor and outdoor thermostatic controllers. This allows to set the temperature required in the greenhouse in advance and turn on the heaters automatically when the temperature drops.
Marat Aitmagambetov
The heating cable is laid down along the greenhouse perimeter and prevents soil freezing, switching it on and off is also controlled automatically. All this helps to minimise impact of winter frosts on plants. Heating and lighting are powered by electricity that is supplied via a cable of non-flammable origin, all cable lines are laid in the protected corrugated pipe, and connecting elements are protected by distribution boxes.
Opening of the greenhouse at the school in Almaty
“This is an excellent initiative. Almaty became the first city in Kazakhstan where the “Green Schools” programme starts, and city schoolchildren will have an opportunity to run projects in the all-year-round greenhouse. I am sure that practical classes within the optional course and biology lessons will be useful and timely,” thinks Akim of Almaty Bakytzhan Sagintayev.
Work in greenhouses will allow to supplement the school curriculum with practical classes and will become an excellent opportunity for teachers to give exciting extracurricular lessons. Schoolchildren will grow vegetables, berries and green stuff, and harvest will be used in demonstration projects and competitions between school teams.
