Developments of Education in Uzbekistan

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Developments of Education in Uzbekistan.[edit]

_{It was not by chance that the term “knowledge economy” appeared in the economic vocabulary a decade ago. This indicates the cardinal importance for the development of the modern economy of the high competence of workers, which cannot be achieved without high-quality education. In the modern world, the quality of education has already become one of the most important factors in the competitiveness of the economy.}

_{That is why in the “Strategy of Action in Five Priority Areas of Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021”, adopted at the beginning of a new stage of reforms in Uzbekistan in February 2017, one of the priorities is “to continue the course of further improving the system of continuous education, increasing the availability of quality educational services, training of highly qualified personnel in accordance with the modern needs of the labor market”. The development issues of increasing the competitiveness of the country's education in the national and international labor markets were also included in the Concept of the integrated socio-economic development of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030.}

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Education from early childhood[edit]

Prior to the start of a new stage of reforms, preschool education in Uzbekistan was not given much attention. The situation changed in 2017 when the Ministry of Preschool Education (MPE) was created. If earlier the coverage of children with this form of education was only 27%, then by the end of 2019 it had already increased to 44.5%. During this period, the number of public preschool institutions (DOE) increased by 1.5 times (from 4940 to 7500), and private preschool institutions - by 3 times (from 269 to 783). If in 2017 51 thousand teachers worked in the system of preschool education, by the end of 2019 - more than 80 thousand.

Much attention was paid to the training of personnel for preschool education. In order to improve the quality of training of specialists, 97 pedagogical colleges completely came under the jurisdiction of the MDO. Quotas for pre-school education were increased in all pedagogical universities. In 2019, the Faculty of Evening Education of the Tashkent State Pedagogical University was opened for the first time. Specialists in preschool education began to be trained at the faculty of preschool education at the branch of Bucheon University in Tashkent. The Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training of Heads and Specialists of Preschool Educational Institutions was opened at the MDO.

In order to organize healthy and safe nutrition in kindergartens, conditions have been created for the purchase of food products for pupils of preschool educational institutions directly from manufacturing enterprises, catering has been piloted using catering.

Specialization of school education[edit]

A developed school infrastructure has been created in Uzbekistan, which made it possible to fully cover children with universal primary and secondary education. The gross enrollment ratio for universal primary and secondary education remained at 99%.

In the course of reforms in secondary education, teaching in grades 10-11 was restored in schools. The proportion of teachers with higher education in general education schools has exceeded 80%, which can be regarded as an indicator of the quality of education. The education reform was accompanied by an increase in the salaries of secondary school teachers, which increased in three stages and eventually increased by an average of 50%. During the reform, 4 academic lyceums were also abolished, the educational and material base of which did not meet modern requirements. And 54 lyceums, located far from universities and having low rates of admission of graduates to universities, have been gradually transformed into professional colleges.

At the same time, new innovative technologies of scientific and technical education are increasingly being introduced in the world. In Uzbekistan, prerequisites and conditions are being created for the transition to such teaching technologies, which is reflected in the Concept for the Development of the Public Education System of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030. Of great importance in this direction is the creation of a system of presidential schools, where gifted children who have completed the fourth grade according to test results are selected. Presidential schools are already operating in Tashkent, Namangan, Nukus and Khiva, schools in Bukhara, Jizzakh, Samarkand and Ferghana are opening this year, and in 2021 they will be opened in Andijan, Navoi, Surkhandarya, Syrdarya and Tashkent regions.

Specialized educational institutions are being created with in-depth study of ICT, exact sciences, as well as aerospace and astronomy. Thus, by decrees of the President, a school named after al-Khorezmi and a boarding school named after Mirzo Ulugbek at the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan were established in Tashkent. There are also private specialized schools. In 2015, the first private school of robotics, Robokidz Education, was established in Tashkent, where courses in robotics, initial programming, and the Internet of Things are taught. And in 2017, a private school, Artel global school, was opened, focused on in-depth study of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. It also teaches robotics, 3D modeling and programming.

Ongoing professional education.[edit]

Reforms in vocational education are carried out on the basis of the Decree of the President "On additional measures to improve the system of vocational education", adopted on September 6, 2019. According to this decree, a new system of continuing professional education is being introduced: primary, secondary and secondary specialized vocational education. Vocational training centers are organized for the adult population and the unemployed.

At present, a network of educational institutions has been created in the field of vocational education, consisting of 340 vocational schools, 147 colleges and 143 technical schools, the training of personnel in which should be carried out on the basis of educational programs corresponding to levels 3, 4 and 5 of the International Standard Classification of Education 2011.

Vocational schools provide vocational education for Grade 9 graduates. Most of the training time here is devoted to practical exercises. The training is focused on the areas of family business, construction, services, animal husbandry, poultry farming, beekeeping, fishing, etc.

Colleges provide training for specialists with at least a general secondary education in the form of full-time, evening and distance learning for up to two years. For college graduates, large potential employers create a portfolio of orders based on the current and future need for workers, which guarantees the employment of graduates.

Graduates of technical schools who have successfully completed educational programs are given the right to continue their studies from the 2nd year of the relevant areas of education of the bachelor's degree of higher educational institutions without entrance exams based on an individual interview. Thus, there is an opportunity to continue learning and improve their professional knowledge and skills.

Higher Education Quality Standards[edit]

On April 20, 2017, the Presidential Decree approved the Program for the Comprehensive Development of the Higher Education System for the period 2017-2021, which includes measures to radically improve and qualitatively increase the level of higher education.

The procedure for admission to universities was changed, exams began to be held from August 1 to 15, and their results began to be published the next day. Testing for admission to universities in creative areas has been cancelled. Since September 2017, the teaching load on the teaching staff has been reduced in favor of conducting research work. Correspondence education has been restored. The salaries of university teachers have doubled.

The independence of universities has increased. Starting from the 2018/2019 academic year, leading higher educational institutions independently develop curricula and programs in relevant areas and specialties of education, taking into account the demand of personnel consumers. Universities are allowed to carry out additional admission of students at higher contract rates.

As part of the reform of the education sector, teacher training curricula have been revised and brought in line with international standards, the national student assessment system has been modernized in cooperation with international systems such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS.

In cooperation with the international rating agencies QS, THE, indicators for assessing the quality of education have been developed to determine the national ranking of the country's universities, and for the third year their results have been announced. For international recognition of documents on education, work has begun on their compliance with the requirements of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED/ISCED 2011). In 2020, Uzbekistan joined the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) as an observer.

On October 8, 2019, the Decree of the President “On approval of the Concept for the development of the higher education system of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the period until 2030” was issued, which provides for a phased transition to the introduction of advanced standards of higher education, a gradual transfer of the educational process to a credit-modular system, which should be introduced in 16% of higher education institutions in 2023, 57% in 2025 and 85% in 2030. However, the transition to this system has already begun. Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after. Muhammad al-Khwarizmiy (TUIT) is gradually implementing the transition to the credit system of education from the 2018/2019 academic year. In the same direction, national, law universities, the University of Oriental Studies and the Tashkent Medical Academy began to work.

Remote influence of the coronavirus[edit]

The coronavirus infection and the quarantine restrictions associated with it have greatly affected the education sector. On the one hand, quarantine restrictions led to disruptions in the continuity of educational processes, on the other hand, they became a catalyst that accelerated the development of distance learning.

The first case of coronavirus infection in Uzbekistan was detected on March 15, and already on March 16, by the decision of the Special Republican Commission, preschool, secondary and higher educational institutions were closed for a three-week quarantine. About 80,000 students studying in Tashkent from other regions of the country were given 50% discounts on transport services to return home.

About 8.4 million students were under quarantine at home, about 6 million of whom were students of secondary schools. To ensure a continuous educational process, various types of distance learning were organized. In particular, the Ministry of Public Education has prepared television broadcasting of lessons for all classes in accordance with the curriculum. On the official telegram channel of the UZEDU ministry and the channel on YouTube video hosting, the schedule and direct recordings of TV lessons for all classes began to be published.

Also promptly, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education formed online resources on higher education standards and launched the EDUUZ telegram channel, where materials for self-education began to be posted. At the same time, the process of forming more than 3,500 electronic textbooks in various disciplines on the Libruary Innovation website continued.

Conclusion[edit]

Summarizing, we can state that in all educational sectors of Uzbekistan, serious foundations have been laid for bringing them to a qualitatively new level that meets modern international requirements.

In the field of education, everything is interconnected. For example, it takes two decades to prepare a new generation for life, and to train highly qualified specialists in universities, competent applicants are required. Successful mastery of school, increasingly complex educational programs requires the development of children's abilities and their quality preparation in preschool institutions.

In this regard, reforms in education are most effective with an integrated approach and harmonization of reforming sectors and various stages of education. Therefore, the need to form an integral education system that ensures close cooperation between preschool, general secondary, secondary specialized, professional, higher educational and scientific institutions is at the forefront of reforms.

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