Minister of Public Education Sherzod Shermatov commented on the issue of the school branch in Chirakchi and similar buildings, which has caused widespread discussion on social networks.
“So far, almost no investment has been made in schools. It has changed in the last two years. Prior to that, investments were mainly made in colleges and lyceums.
We must admit that the financial situation of our population and economy is not that good.
One of the issues that causes a lot of discussion, both in Chirakchi and other places, is branches. What is a branch? The population has moved there, but most do not even have a cadastral document. People built a building by themselves and established it as a branch of the school. Because the primary school is far away. In rural areas and mountainous areas, there is no transport to go to school. That is why the condition of those schools is in a terrible state. Because these are buildings made of straw, they are not schools built under a state program.
There are many objective reasons for this. Compared to the post-Soviet period, Uzbekistan has been the country with the largest population growth so far. Compared to 1990, the population has increased by 16 million people.
Most of the population in the country are young people. We need to build more schools, clinics and other new facilities for them. What has not been done in so many years cannot be done in two years.
There are 1,170 such branches in the country. Only 1% of all pupils study in them. The branches are established in small buildings, consisting of a single room. 1st, 2nd, 3rd graders study in the same room. If you visit there, you will witness their condition.
Secondly, of those 1,170 branches, about 300 were built by the people. People themselves have constructed them. When you ask them to attend a public school, they say “it is too far to attend.”
It is necessary to take a comprehensive approach to this issue. In general, there is no water or roads in those villages. The task has already been defined. That is, if a region is to develop, it must have a master plan. On this basis, houses should be built, and then there should be social infrastructure.
If the population arbitrarily moves to the middle of a field or mountain and lives there, then such a situation occurs. Both the kindergarten and the school will be in bad shape.
The President has assigned tasks to local authorities on such old, dilapidated branches. All those schools should be either repaired, closed or transferred to the main school, or if the population increases, a new school should be built there,” Sherzod Shermatov said.
Earlier, photos depicting a school branch in Chirakchi, which is in a deplorable condition, were spread on social networks and widely discussed by social network users.
