ASTANA. March 24. KAZINFORM. Kazakhstan will work to build almost 300 hundred new schools and hospitals in the next three years in order to help solve the problems of overcrowding and lack of amenities that have plagued both the countryТs education and healthcare systems. Berdibek Saparbayev, Vice Minister of Economy and Budget Planning said most of the new construction for 160 new schools and 131 hospitals will be ensured through public-private partnerships. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting on this issue, Saparbayev added there were 115 schools across the country where students have to study in three shifts (morning, day and evening), as well as 216 broken down schools urgently requiring repairs. He also added 997 small towns and villages did not have schools at all. Prime Minister Karim Massimov addressed the same meeting saying a comprehensive approach was needed to solve these problems: УWe should already be determining at this stage who will work in new schools and hospitals and how we will take care of housing needs for them.Ф In his annual state of the nation address on February 28, President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced 100 new schools and 100 new hospitals will be built in Kazakhstan during the next three years, Kazakhstan News Bulletin, released weekly by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.