The present and future of preschool education of the Republic of Uzbekistan

The Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan pays special attention to the early development of preschool education. This direction is one of the priority directions of state policy. Understanding the extreme importance of the early stage of child development led to the need for a new ministry - the Ministry of Preschool Education, which was established on the initiative of the President on September 30, 2017.

Currently, there are 6,154 pre-school educational institutions in the country, about 33% of preschool children are covered by pre-school education. It should be noted that at the time of the creation of the Ministry, the total number of DOWs was only 4,893, thus, their number increased by 1261, which became possible due to the transformation of branches into separate pre-school educational institutions, new construction and development of the non-state sector.

The created favorable conditions for attracting private capital to the sphere of preschool education, as well as simplification of the licensing procedure led to the fact that in a short time the number of non-state pre-school educational institutions increased by 2.5 times. Now in the republic there are 568 non-state pre-school educational institutions.

The development of the regulatory framework and the conditions for public-private partnership (PPP) in pre-school education has become a major step towards the development of a network of non-state pre-school educational institutions. On April 5, 2018, Presidential Decree No. 3651 was signed, which approved the Regulations on Public-Private Partnership in the field of pre-school education. This document provides for various models of public-private partnerships, as well as a number of benefits, including tax and customs, and the possibility of obtaining preferential loans for the organization of pre-school educational institutions.

Since the creation of the Ministry of Preschool Education with the assistance and support of the UNICEF International Children's Fund, positive results have been achieved in a short period of time:

a draft law on the early development of children of preschool age was developed;

State requirements for the development of children of early and preschool age have been improved;

The curriculum of preschool education based on the competence approach has been developed;

Implementation of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) was launched.

For the solution of the personnel problem, short-term courses for the retraining of pedagogical staff in the sphere of preschool education were organized for the first time, and this was the first time not only for people with pedagogical education, but also for providing a flexible entry into the profession - for people with higher non-pedagogical education.

The government of the country also pays attention to stimulating labor, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 28.02.2018. "On measures to improve the terms of payment for certain categories of employees of state pre-school educational institutions" provides for a two-step increase in wages for Dow workers. At the same time, a higher wage increase was felt by those teachers who have higher education.

In order to create an innovative and stimulating educational environment in conjunction with the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Uzbekistan, considering the state of existing pre-school educational institutions, the Departmental construction norms and rules have been revised, based on the best international practices and taking into account modern requirements. The international experience of leading countries was studied, including: Korea, Great Britain, Finland. Particular attention was paid to constructive and planning solutions such as: stand-alone buildings of the kitchen, dining room with heated passage from the main building, insulated floor in the group rooms. Also, when designing pre-school educational institutions under construction, there will be separate rooms for groups of short-term stay, universal (music, sports) halls. During the construction will be used energy-saving materials and products (insulation of the facade of the building).

For 2018, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan approved the Address Program for the Republic, which provides for new construction of 40, reconstruction of 298 and overhaul of 29 pre-school educational institutions.

The system of organization of healthy nutrition is revised - it is allowed to conclude contracts with direct suppliers, seasonal menus have been developed, the system of outsourcing of services for catering in Tashkent and Syrdarya region is launched in a pilot mode.

The international cooperation in the sphere of training, retraining and advanced training of pedagogical and managerial personnel in the field of preschool education, creating media content, developing new teaching and methodological and didactic materials, and the construction of pre-school educational institutions is actively being established.

At the initiative of the Ministry of Preschool Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on July 2, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted the Resolution "On the Establishment of the Puchon University (Republic of Korea) in Tashkent", where already in the academic year 2018/2019, education will be organized in the direction of pre-school education.

Already today, you can give examples of attracting foreign investment in the form of sponsorship. So, Dow No. 324 of Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent is completely reconstructed and equipped according to the Korean model for the new academic year with the support of the company "New Milenium" and the University of Sijon (Republic of Korea).

The Agency for Coordination of Cooperation "TIKA" (Turkey) has reconstructed and equipped the DOU No. 1 of the Kagansky District, Bukhara Region, Dow No. 104 of Samarkand, DOW No. 323 of the Yakkasaray District of Tashkent.

By the International Children's Day with the support of domestic sponsors, attracted by the Ministry of Preschool Education, the non-functioning pre-school No. 48 in Nukus was put into operation for many years. Under the decision of the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan to support children from socially vulnerable segments of the population, half of the children will attend this DOW free of charge.

Currently, the Ministry of Preschool Education is actively working to attract foreign investment and implement various projects with international financial institutions.

In the period from 2019-2024, the project will be implemented jointly with the World Bank "Improving Early Childhood Development," worth $ 60 million.

Also, cooperation is envisaged for the development of projects with the Asian and Islamic Development Banks.

As a result of systemic reforms, the Ministry of Pre-school Education provides for a significant increase in the coverage of children up to 2031 to 85%.

Particular attention will be paid to children at the age of 6, covering them with compulsory free one-year preparation for school. Beginning in September 2018, a gradual transition will be implemented for mandatory free one-year training of children for school, which will be piloted in all regions of the republic, a number of selected areas. Thus, the coverage of children aged 6 years by 2021 will reach 100 percent.

The main directions of increasing the enrollment of children aged 3-7 years with preschool education are:

construction of new preschool educational institutions;

reconstruction, major repairs, equipping of vacant and vacant premises and buildings;

the development of alternative forms of pre-school educational institutions with a flexible work schedule, such as: short-stay groups, family pre-school educational institutions, the creation of preschool educational institutions on 1 floor of new buildings under construction;

development of a network of non-state pre-school educational institutions on the basis of public-private partnership;

step-by-step transition to compulsory free one-year preparation of children for school aged 6-7 on the basis of pre-school educational institutions, general schools, mahalla committees.