Primary schoolchildren in Uzbekistan may be provided with free meals

Paragraph 8 of the project is aimed at improving the quality of education and reforming the sector based on advanced foreign experience. As a result of the aforementioned change, it is expected that 2.5 million schoolchildren will be covered by the system of free meals this year and about 2.7 trillion soums will be allocated for these purposes.

In 2022, 273 thousand students were covered by this system in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm region.

In addition, the project states that starting from September 1, 2023, in one general secondary educational institution of each district (city), the practice of teaching pupils two foreign languages and one profession will be gradually launched.

As a result, French is taught in 76 schools, German – in 76, English – in 37, Korean – in 10, Chinese – in 6, and Japanese – in 3. Also, starting from the 10th grade, pupils are taught 64 professions, entrepreneurship are taught in 21 areas, 10 IT and “creative industry” professions. Youth leaders and well-known businessmen of the region are involved in this process.

Also, it is planned to gradually implement new educational programs in general secondary educational institutions from the 2023/2024 academic year. In this, the followings have been listed:

•  teaching students in grades 1-4 according to textbooks developed on the basis of foreign experience;
•  providing students with basic knowledge of general education subjects in grades 5-9;
•  introducing the practice of imparting knowledge based on specialized programs that match the interests and abilities of 10-11 graders.

In grades 10-11, the weekly load of 14 compulsory subjects is 31 hours. Based on the improved curriculum, it will be possible to choose 8 compulsory subjects and 2 optional subjects (chemistry-biology, mathematics, physics, history-law, native language and literature-foreign language), the project draft notes.

Currently, the State Program draft is open for public discussion. One can submit an offer until February 17.

For information, “Yuksalish” nationwide movement in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and Khorezm region studied the task of providing free meals to elementary school students as a trial.

In order to eliminate the identified shortcomings, the Public Education Department of the Republic of Karakalpakstan announced that free meals will be provided to primary schoolchildren from November 11. The proceedings are said to have been delayed due to the cancellation of the winning lots following violation of relevant government regulations.

Also, at the session of the Lower Chamber, it was announced that an additional 922 billion soums will be allocated to Public Education Department from the 2022 state budget. Of this, 106 billion soums will be allocated for free meals for pupils of the 1st-4th grade in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm, and 400 billion soums will be allocated to cover the rent of textbooks from the budget.