Top British school in Borat's homeland
If Borat was to be believed, they are a nation of uneducated bumpkins.
But demand for a good education is so great in Kazakhstan that a top British public school is to open a branch in the country, it emerged yesterday.
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Haileybury has signed a deal with an international firm of developers to stamp its brand on a new £13 million school in the booming Kazakh city of Almaty.
Staff at the £23,085-a-year Hertfordshire public school say the portrayal of Kazakh citizens as backward and bumbling by Sacha Baron Cohen's comic creation Borat couldn't be further from the truth.
In fact, an emerging Kazakh middle-class is clamouring to give their children a rigorous academic education combined with a broad range of extra-curricular activities like horse-riding and music.
With the announcement of the deal yesterday, Haileybury becomes part of a growing trend for prestigious independent schools to export their brands abroad.
They are setting up in countries as far afield as China, Dubai and Russia, capitalising on a growing appetite for British public school education.
Haileybury is thought to be the first to expand into central Asia.
The new school, to be named Haileybury-Almaty, is due to open in September next year catering initially for 640 day pupils - both boys and girls - aged three to 18 but with scope to expand to 940.
A boarding house may in future be added, bringing the school further in line with its British counterpart, which has both day and boarding pupils.
Unlike some public schools operating abroad, Haileybury's venture will target local Kazakhs, rather than the expatriate community. Eighty per cent of pupils are expected to be Kazakh nationals.
However, it will appeal to the most well-off. Fees could top £10,000-a-year.
Pupils will follow the English primary and secondary school curriculum, taking International GCSE exams at 16 and the International Baccalaureate in the sixth-form.
While most classes will be taught in English, pupils will also learn the Kazakh language and about its history.
While its Hertfordshire counterpart turns pupils out onto the sports field in most weathers, the Kazakh school will need to offer a range of indoor sports because winters are so cold, reaching temperatures of minus 40 degrees.
Developers are planning an indoor climbing wall.
The venture grew from links between Kazakh past pupils at Haileybury, who spread the word in their home country about the school's approach.
Development firm Capital Partners signed an agreement with the school, running into seven figures, to use its name and expertise.
Haileybury will also have a representative on the new school's governing body.
Many of its features, including the traditional house system, will be transplanted to the new school.
As in Britain, most Kazakh children are educated in state-run schools. The small number of private schools are highly oversubscribed as the oil-rich nation enjoys unprecedented economic growth.
Haileybury headmaster Stuart Westley said: "We are complimented indeed to have been asked to help them set up a school, which, as far as is practical, will have the values and aspirations of Haileybury.
"This means a broad education, encompassing rich provision of games, music, art and drama -characteristics of public schools like Haileybury which are not characteristic of schools in central Asia.
"We will also be encouraging pupils to think for themselves to a greater extent.
"Haileybury is delighted to be part of this exciting opportunity which reflects the great interest in and respect for the values of the British public school clearly evident now in many parts of the world."
He added: "The people I have met from Kazakhstan have been highly intelligent with a very broad perspective on the world - quite at odds with the Borat stereotype!"
Haileybury currently has 14 Kazakh pupils.
One, Anuar Malik (ok), 18, said: "The education programme in most of Kazakhstan is still the old Soviet one, including the same books.
"I think this is going to work because lots of families send their children to England to study and then miss them so get them back to Kazakhstan."
