The Turkestan Region Education Department, as part of the state educational order, annually paid hundreds of millions of tenge to the Saryagash Madrasah College, where a video was recently recorded of an imam receiving a foot massage from children — the video caused a stir in society. Tengrinews writes about this.

According to information from the state procurement website, the akimat has been cooperating with the madrasah since 2018 and to the present day: contracts have been concluded between them for a total amount exceeding 1.9 billion tenge.

"In accordance with state educational standards, regardless of religious affiliation, educational institutions have the right to state support, including grants. In this context, the Saryagash Madrasah College received more than 1.6 billion tenge from the state budget in the period from 2018 to 2024 academic years," the education department of the Akimat of the Turkestan region commented on the situation, specifying that the contract amount for 2025 is not taken into account here.

The Akimat reported that a total of 900 grant places were allocated between 2018 and 2025.

   

Earlier, a video was circulated online showing children massaging the feet of an imam in a mosque in the Saryagash district of the Turkestan region.

The incident caused a stir, after which the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Russian Federation issued an explanation.

"The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan has reprimanded the imam of the mosque for actions that have caused public discontent in a sacred place. The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan calls on the entire Muslim community of the country not to raise their voices in houses of worship, not to allow indecent actions, not to start quarrels. We call on visitors to the mosque to observe the etiquette of the mosque as much as possible," the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan said in a statement, as quoted by Tengrinews .

The situation was also commented on by the education department of the Akimat of the Turkestan region.

They said that they conducted an investigation after the video was published. The department confirmed that the video was filmed in the Satybaldy Abishuly Madrasah, but the footage does not show students from the madrasah.

"The video shows the head teacher of the madrasah, Abdujappar Smanov, giving instructions with his grandchildren. Grandchildren, in order to receive their grandfather's blessing, often show love and respect for him in this way (by giving him a massage – editor's note )," the department said.

What else is known

The video was posted on his Facebook page by journalist Oraz Alimbek.

"The Ministry of Education spends hundreds of millions of tenge from the budget on educating children so that they can knead the teacher's feet? If he is not stopped, tomorrow he will probably make them lick his shoes," the journalist is indignant.

He called for an investigation into the madrasah administration and also for other religious and educational institutions to be inspected.

The madrasah trains students in the specialty of Islamic studies, as well as in the qualifications of imam-khatib and teacher.

   

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Cover: Illustrative photo from the website gov.kz