State Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick this week will be in Kazakhstan, joining civic officials from that country, India and the United States in an exchange program to help students embrace democracy.

The five-day visit is part of the program titled Civic Leaders Advancing Active and Responsible Citizenship: An Exchange Program for Kazakhstan, India and the U.S., and is paid for by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural

Affairs.

Grasmick could not be reached for comment.

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Maryland began its partnership with the Center for Civic Education, a nonprofit that runs the program, in 1995, four years after Kazakhstan gained its independence from

Russia.

Kazakhstan, which is south of Russia and next to Mongolia, is rich in natural gas and coal, but the country, which was ridiculed in the comedy film “Borat,” has struggled to form a national identity and build relations with neighboring countries and international powers.