Priority tasks set in the sphere of pre-school and school education

The future of the country and economic development directly depend on the educated generation. In this regard, major work is being carried out in Uzbekistan on the construction of kindergartens and schools, implementation of modern programs and increasing the quality of education. 

Over ten types of extra allowances to the wage were introduced for the pedagogues. Today over 60 thousand teachers, which are actively increasing their professional level, receive a wage of 10-12 million soums. In 300 schools with good results in the new evaluation system, the whole team receives the allowance up to 40 percent. From this month, the wages of school directors, heads of kindergartens and their deputies exceeded 10 million soums. 

From the beginning of the year the students of Uzbekistan won 195 medals in international Olympiads. 

In more than a thousand schools where foreign language speakers work, the number of students who have received language certificates has increased by 2,5 times in one year. 

At the meeting, the need for further reforms and the introduction of profound changes at all levels of the education system was emphasized.

In the field of preschool education, it is planned to increase the number of places by 182 thousand this year, of which 82 thousand will be provided by new kindergartens and another 100 thousand by renovating existing ones and attracting the private sector.

In districts and cities where preschool coverage is below 80 percent, vacant land will be auctioned off for the construction of kindergartens based on public-private partnerships. There will be a three-year program for this. Such institutions will receive subsidies and partial coverage of teachers' salaries.

At the same time, along with new buildings and conditions, the competence of employees must also grow. This summer, 118 thousand teachers improved their qualifications, but this is still not enough. In state kindergartens, only 38 percent of teachers have higher education, and in private kindergartens – 24 percent.

Therefore, a special form of bachelor's degree will be introduced from the new academic year: teachers with secondary specialized education will work five days a week and study one day a week. This will allow around 10 thousand specialists with higher education to be trained each year.

Next year, “New Generation” kindergartens will be established in each region to provide methodological support to teachers.

There are also unresolved issues in school education. Over the past three years, 201 specialized schools for gifted children have been established, but in 12 of them, renovation and construction have not yet been completed.

In remote areas, 74 thousand students are forced to travel 5-7 kilometers to get to school. In Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions, free buses have already been provided for 100 schools, and this practice will be expanded.

Since last year, computer science classes have been introduced in first grade. Starting next school year, artificial intelligence classes will be introduced in upper grades. For this purpose, 2 thousand classrooms will be equipped with computers and interactive whiteboards.

Branches of specialized schools will be created in the regions: Al-Khorezmi School for IT, Mirzo Ulughbek for engineering, and Ibn Sina for natural sciences. They will be assigned to technical universities, and their best graduates will be able to enter directly into the second year.

Next year, for the first time in Uzbekistan, two prestigious international Olympiads will be held – in chemistry and computer science. The responsible persons have been given appropriate instructions on the preparation of these events.

Particular attention is paid to the education and employment of young people.

It was noted that a national model of education by age category will be created, which will help to train specialists with modern competencies who are also committed to national values.

Based on weekly themes, the Center for children's content development and the Kary-Niyazi national institute of education will create educational videos that will be posted on the "Milliy Tarbiya" platform.
Extracurricular education and sports are very important for the comprehensive development of children. In this regard, the President signed a decree on the creation of a network of "Kelajak" centers based on 219 "Barkamol Avlod" schools, the "Yoshlik" society, student youth centers, and the Children's organization of Uzbekistan. These centers will offer clubs in engineering, science, culture, art, sports and ecology.

Each secondary school will introduce the position of advisor, who will organize language, professional, engineering, creative and sports clubs based on the interests and abilities of children. Based on the children's achievements in clubs and competitions, a “digital portfolio” of schoolchildren will be created and included in their electronic certificates.

The President emphasized that the most important task is to create conditions for young people to learn a profession and have a steady income.

Today, there are 598 technical colleges in the country with the capacity to accept 450 thousand students, but young people's interest and the employment rate of graduates remain low. In this regard, based on the experience of presidential and specialized schools, a modern system of vocational education in line with international standards will be introduced in all technical colleges.

To carry out this work on the basis of a unified policy, an Agency for Vocational Education is being established. Now, training at technical colleges will be carried out in a targeted manner at the request of investors. Companies that implement dual education together with technical colleges will be provided with preferential loans.

Issues related to the creation of workshops and the expansion of foreign language teaching based on the experience of developed countries were also discussed.

At the end of the meeting, a dialogue was held with officials and teachers.