Kazakhstan vs Latvia
Side-by-side comparison of how these places approach childhood.
Kazakhstan
Kazakh children learn to ride horses before they learn to ride bicycles.
Nomadic equestrian heritage runs deep โ horseback games like kokpar are taught to children in rural areas alongside modern school subjects.
Latvia
Latvian children weave flower crowns and jump over bonfires during the midsummer Jani festival.
The Jani summer solstice celebration is the most beloved Latvian holiday, where children stay up all night singing folk songs around fires.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan follows an 11-year system transitioning to 12 years. Kazakh and Russian are both languages of instruction, with English being added as a third language for science subjects. The Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools serve as reform laboratories.
Latvia
Latvia follows a 9-3 system with compulsory education from ages 5 to 16. Latvian is the language of instruction. The system transitioned from Russian and minority-language schools to Latvian-only instruction in 2019, affecting the large Russian-speaking minority.
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