The Main Reason Behind Nearly 2,000 Almaty Graduates Opting Out of the UBT Has Been Revealed

The Almaty City Education Department has released the results for the 2025–2026 academic year, reporting positive dynamics in the metropolitan education sector.

According to Saken Aralbayev, head of the department, there are currently 360 schools operating in the city (227 public and 133 private), serving over 357,000 students. This year, the number of graduates reached 17,187. Among them, 790 students were awarded the "Altyn Belgi" (Golden Badge), and 2,083 graduates received certificates of excellence. Additionally, 27,813 students graduated from technical and vocational education (TVET) institutions.

This year, 15,251 Almaty graduates participated in the Unified National Testing (UNT/UBT). Meanwhile, 1,990 students chose not to take the exam. The Education Department cited the graduates' intention to enroll in foreign universities as the primary reason for this decision.

The quality of education across the city reached 68.7% (up from 65.8% last year). Furthermore, the Almaty team has led the national natural-mathematical sciences Olympiad for 24 consecutive years.

There are 1,097 kindergartens operating in Almaty. The pilot voucher-based financing project, launched in July, is showing results: the enrollment rate for preschool education for children aged 2 to 6 has increased to 96.1%. Under the project, more than 115,000 vouchers have been issued, resulting in an economic efficiency of 4 billion tenge.