Yesterday, 334 young and talented students from the RFMS 2020 cohort received their certificates from our alma mater. These are prominent representatives of Generation Z who are already working on international startups, entering the world's top universities, creating creative projects, and are just in a hurry to make the world a better place. For me personally, this year and graduation are special, as 5 years have passed since I have been actively involved in school life.

In 2015, I headed the Board of Directors of RFMS, a non-profit joint stock company, and we hired a new management team. There were many tasks, in particular, we had to work on:

  • modernization of the school;
  • improving the training program;
  • creating comfortable living conditions in a boarding school;
  • increasing teachers' salaries;
  • restoring the problematic construction of a new building;
  • expanding the geography of student recruitment.

All these problems could be quickly and effectively solved under the new legal form of the Nenets Autonomous Area, which gave us the opportunity to attract graduates of the Russian Academy of Music and other education enthusiasts to the Board of Directors and the Board of Directors in order to jointly develop the school's long-term strategy and solve current problems.

In 2016, we realized the important role of RFMS as a serious player in the physical and mathematical education ecosystem in the country and neighboring countries. We realized that we could not stand by, not share our knowledge and experience and not participate in the processes of reforms and innovations in education. It is for this reason that we have opened a new school in the country's capital. And today, the capital's RFMS is seeing off the third graduate of physicists. We have also developed and tested the Fizmat Primary School Program for elementary schools in our country's capital. Now Fizmat Primary School is one of the best in the country, which proves the level of teachers' professional training, the results of numerous Olympiads, feedback from parents, and a strong entrance competition. In the same year, our school became the first international member of the Consortium of Specialized STEM Schools in the United States, which now includes the world's top specialized schools from Israel, Great Britain, the Kingdom of Qatar and other countries.

In 2017, we, a group of RFMS graduates, established the Endowment Fund (https://endowmentfund.fizmat.kz/). Thanks to the active support of all graduates, the Fund quickly raised the required amount, the investment income from which is paid to RFMS teachers in Almaty. Deposits even in the amount of 1,000 tenge show that graduates want to help the school. The Foundation's key idea is to provide a cushion for times of crisis so that schools never stop working. My late friend, Nurlan Kapparov, once inspired us to help the school during the difficult period in the 1990s. I am sure that there will be more pioneers among the graduates who will also contribute to the development of the school and the country. Some young graduates have already started teaching at school in their spare time, such as jiu-jitsu champion and Nazarbayev University graduate Moldir Mekenbayeva and programmer Karim Zhumazhanov, while others have decided to focus on management issues and administrative reform. Among them are such graduates as Ruslan Kaliev (RFMS Astana), Aset Altybayev (Fizmat Academy), Aidar Bulatov (RFMS Astana), and many others. Bakhyt Ospanov (Lancaster Group), Yernur Rysmagambetov (AIFC) and Ainur Kapparova (McKinsey) played a major role in the development of the Fund's Endowment.

That same year, with the whole friendly RFMS family, together with Alexander Chernobay, the legendary director of the RFMS, we celebrated the 45th anniversary of the RFMS. Then, for the first time in Kazakhstan, we opened Yandex.Lyceum on the basis of the RFMS. Yandex, a global company created by two RFMS graduates, has initiated an excellent Python programming program for students. We have developed the program in such a way that not only RFMS students, but also students from other schools can participate in it.

2018 was a record year for us in terms of applicants to school: the competition for applicants exceeded 20 people per place, and since then it has only been growing. For comparison, in 2016, the competition was only 2-3 people per seat, while in NIS and KTL, the competition was several times higher. Almaz Kungozhin was appointed as the new director at the RFMS in Almaty, Shyngys Nurlanov was appointed as the new director of the RFMS Astana, and Gabit Bekakhmetov was appointed Chairman of the Management Board. Also, due to the fact that many specialized schools accept children in 7th grade, we also decided to take this step. Again, as in the 1970s, seventh graders came to the school building. Taking on international experience, we introduced the Singapore capital school's method of teaching mathematics, and in high school we introduced the Advanced Placement international program, which allows us to take university courses as early as grades 10-11. Such innovations gave their first results: in 2018, Aruzhan Amanbayeva, a graduate of the RFMS Almaty, entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Princeton University, some of the best US universities.

Aruzhan's achievement was a great motivation for many girls. Traditionally, RFMS has been characterized by the fact that up to 70 percent of school students are boys. But now we see that the rates are rising and more and more girls want to join the RFMS. Children from different regions of Kazakhstan are also joining the ranks of students, which only makes us happy. We are working with organizations such as Chevron and Science on Stage Europe to disseminate international and physical teaching experience in Kazakhstan. In order for RFMS teachers to be able to officially teach and share their experience with students and teachers from other schools and regions of the country, we opened the Fizmat Academy in 2019. He is also the operator of our now international FEMO (Fizmat Elementary Math Olympiad) Olympiad. In 2019, we held the 15th anniversary season of the International Zhautykov Olympiad (www.izho.kz), where about 20 countries have already participated, including countries such as the US and Denmark. Anuar Unaybekov, Yerlan Uteulin, Aliya Rakhimzhanova and Sherkhan Sauyrtayev are doing a lot of work on all these projects.

And now we are in a difficult and unusual 2020. We are glad that our experience with snowstorms in the capital has prepared us for distance learning and we have implemented Google Education tools in time. Not only were our teachers able to keep their lessons open, but they also taught about 1300 students from rural areas, preparing them for UNT free of charge as part of our corporate social responsibility. We have also taught distance learning methods to several regions of Kazakhstan.

The results of the past five years are bearing fruit. This year, three RFMS students entered Ivy League universities, such as Princeton, Yale and Cornell, with a full grant. Another 200 graduates of this year have already been enrolled in foreign universities and Nazarbayev University, of which 80 are going to the United States and 30 to Germany and Canada. Support your younger graduates and help them adapt to your universities.

We are invited to open RFMS offices and share our experience in the country's regions. A few days ago, on Children's Day, I signed a Memorandum on the opening of the Fizmat Academy with the Governor of West Kazakhstan Province, where we will broadcast our Fizmat Primary School Program for elementary school and play an important role in the STEM development ecosystem. The construction of a new building in Almaty is at the completion stage. As early as September this year, you will be able to visit our new ultra-modern building. This summer, we will have another recruitment of children who will be able to study at the Russian Football Academy. More than a thousand applications have already been submitted online for each school (https://admissions.fizmat.kz). Due to the current epidemiological situation, we will have to carry it out under strict preventive measures, and we are making every effort to ensure a safe student selection process. The admission process has always been controversial, as many people want to study with us. Therefore, this issue has been under my direct supervision for three years now. If you have any questions about the transparency of this process, I am always ready to listen and take action. Don't trust anyone who guarantees you admission to our schools.

We still have a lot of work to do. I urge all RFMS graduates to participate more actively in school life and in education in Kazakhstan. The school and the country need you now more than ever. Participate in changes in education and science and help the country make a quantum leap. Once again, I would like to congratulate all graduates, parents, students, school administrators, and, of course, our favorite teachers on their next graduation!

Regards,

Berik Kaniev

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