Shavkat Mirziyoyev fires First Deputy Minister of Preschool Education for shortcomings in his work

As the press service of the head of state reported, over the past four years, the number of kindergartens has grown from 5.2 thousand to 18.3 thousand. The coverage of children with preschool education has doubled and reached 60%. As a result of the opportunities and benefits provided by the state, the number of private and family kindergartens has increased. Today, 1.7 million children are being educated in preschool educational institutions across the country.

“However, this is not enough. There are not enough kindergartens in 53 districts. For example, the level of enrollment in preschool education is very low in Bandikhan, Denau, Kumkurgan districts of Surkhandarya region, Chirakchi, Kamashi and Kitab districts of Kashkadarya region, as well as in the Yangiyul district of Tashkent region,” the President said.

These and other shortcomings were highlighted in the meeting. The ways of eliminating them, expanding the coverage and improving the quality of preschool education were discussed. Measures were determined to organize 2 thousand family kindergartens for 34 thousand children in 53 districts. A proposal was approved to allow such kindergartens to hire additional workers and accept twice as many children.

Emphasizing that the main thing in education and upbringing is their content, Mirziyoyev set the task of providing family kindergartens with teaching aids and materials free of charge. The state will allocate 30 billion soums for these purposes. In addition, to purchase equipment, they will receive soft loans in the amount of up to 30 million soums at a rate of 5% per annum.

“Another source of expanding the coverage of preschool education in remote areas is kindergartens based on public-private partnerships. Today these organizations receive subsidies to cover 50% of the cost per child. The President ordered to increase this share to 75%, as well as to compensate 50% of the costs of private kindergartens for electricity and natural gas,” the press service said.

Due to the pandemic, the repayment of the principal amount of loans for kindergartens based on PPP, which are not working at full capacity, will be extended until the end of the year. At the same time, the state continues to build new kindergartens. In 2021-2022, it is planned to organize 50 preschool educational institutions in remote settlements of 23 districts.

The President instructed to build these kindergartens based on advanced foreign experience, provide them with modern equipment and educational literature. It was noted that short-term courses will be organized for the training of 12 thousand kindergarten workers.

The First Deputy Minister of Preschool Education was dismissed for the shortcomings in his work. Deputy ministers and heads of all regional departments of the ministry have been demoted to an acting role. It was determined that the issue of their compliance with the position will be considered based on the effectiveness of further activities.