Digital Education to Open Up New Opportunities for Young People

The target of creating 300,000 jobs in the IT sector by 2030 has already been achieved this year. The goal now is to create another 500,000 jobs by 2030 by developing new areas of the digital economy.

Achieving this requires a unified digital education ecosystem covering every stage. from training and certification of young people’s professional skills to employment. The presentation covered approaches to training 5.5 million young people by 2030 through traditional and distance learning formats.

For schoolchildren, plans include expanding the “Heirs of Muhammad al-Khwarizmi” and “Five Million Artificial Intelligence Leaders” projects and bringing together the capabilities of universities and private training centers.

The President set the task of training 1 million young people annually in robotics, game development, startups and other promising areas. This will require developing a team of national trainers, accelerating the launch of online platforms and short-term digital skills courses, expanding research and applying its results in practice.

The presentation also addressed aligning university training with technological advances and changes in the labor market. Proposals include developing education in artificial intelligence, microchip design, unmanned technologies, game development and other areas, as well as expanding students’ participation in practical projects.

Discussions also covered improving computer science teachers’ skills in artificial intelligence, followed by certification, and expanding university students’ access to international courses in digital technologies. Proposals were approved to establish iOS developer training centers based on Fergana’s experience and train mentors for private training centers.

Special attention was paid to integrating research and development into the educational process. In particular, proposals were put forward to train specialists in embedded systems, microelectronics and the Internet of Things at universities, as well as to support engineering projects and research laboratories.

Plans to develop the “Digital Youth” platform were also reviewed to help young people apply their knowledge and find employment. The platform will bring together information on their education, professional skills, language proficiency and certificates, helping them find suitable vacancies and track their employment.

The President emphasized the need to actively engage global technology companies in digital education. Last year, $22 million in grants was attracted for this purpose. The task was set to increase this figure to $60 million by the end of this year and to $100 million by 2030 through systematic cooperation.

Half of the grant funding attracted this year will be allocated to digital education, while the remaining half will go to professional development programs, the establishment of digital education centers in remote areas, and equipping them with modern equipment for teaching artificial intelligence, robotics and programming.

The Head of State emphasized that, alongside expanding access, the key criteria for the development of digital education should be the quality of training and its impact on employment. He instructed responsible officials to ensure the achievement of the set goals through specific programs, expand training opportunities in the regions, and strengthen cooperation with the private sector and international partners.

The presentation also included a report on progress in establishing the International Center for Digital Technologies.