As Socrates said, the secret of change is not to focus all of your energy on fighting the world but on building the new one. That is why I want to participate in the forum – to build a new world where high education will be accessible, inclusive, and will teach critical thinking. This will hopefully bring the world closer to democracy.

Abylay Saralayev/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.Thanks to my parents, I was able to gain high quality education. However, not everyone is on the same grounds in Kazakhstan. That is why I conducted an empirical study on the challenges facing low income students during my master's thesis.

This will hopefully bring the world closer to democracy.

I also held lectures for students in rural areas and in different schools, to show people that they have opportunities to have a grant and scholarship abroad or at better universities in Kazakhstan.   

openDemocracy will be at this year's World Forum for Democracy, exploring the relationship between education and democracy with a citizens’ newsroom. Register here.