Work hours of preschool educational institutions to be extended

Preschool educational institutions of Uzbekistan are granted the right to provide extra paid services, Kun.uz correspondent reports.

The order of organizing the activity of additional paid educational services in state pre-school educational institutions was approved by the Minister of Preschool Education.

Now, state preschool institutions will start working in a more convenient format for parents, including childcare on weekends and after work, as well as the organization of additional circle activities.

According to the document, state preschool institutions of Uzbekistan will be able to provide additional paid services, namely:

- taking care of a child, looking after him, his training on weekends and after the completion of the working day of a preschool educational institution;

- organizing sports and fitness clubs (karate, taekwondo, swimming, chess-checkers, gymnastics, etc.), artistic and aesthetic circles (choir, dance, fine arts, etc.), subject circles (foreign language, mathematics, mental arithmetic, logic, computer science, etc.) in addition to the curriculum of preschool educational institutions.

“The Ministry of Preschool Education often received requests for the extension of the day-care timing of the kindergarten, since working parents did not have time to take the children. However, we could not require teachers to stay after 6:00 pm, as this contradicts the requirements of labor legislation,” Sherzod Pardayev, head of the financial and economic development planning department said.

According to him, the introduction of paid services is an opportunity to pay for overtime work or hire an additional specialist to make the work of the preschool educational institutions more flexible and convenient for parents.

Also, according to him, parents will be able to directly influence the types and prices of paid services through the Supervisory Board, in which there are 3 representatives from each group.

Types of paid services and prices are considered by the Supervisory Board of the kindergarten and approved by the head and the relevant territorial preschool education department.

Admission to the group of additional services is based on the application of parents. The number of children in such groups should not exceed 25. The service is voluntary and is formalized by an agreement between the head of the kindergarten and one of the parents of the child.

Additional services are provided by attracted specialists or employees of a preschool educational institution on the basis of an agreement on overtime work. However, they should not interfere with the kindergarten curriculum. 80% of the funds received will be spent on strengthening the material and technical base and material incentives for PEI workers.