The President of Uzbekistan puts forward important initiatives to enhance international cooperation in preschool education

Tashkent hosts the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (WCECCE).

On November 15, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the opening ceremony of the conference.

The conference is aimed at enhancing international cooperation in defining policies in preschool education until 2030. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, ministers and representatives of about 150 countries, officials of international organizations are attending the event.

The President of Uzbekistan touched upon the situation with early childhood education and upbringing in the world, noting that millions of children have limited access to primary education, specialists in the field need to unite efforts to increase its coverage. It was noted that based on the principle “human dignity, rights and interests are the highest value”, the creation of decent living conditions for the people of the country has been defined as a priority of the New Uzbekistan’s policy.

– In this regard, we attach great importance, above all, to the care and practical support of young people and children, raising them physically healthy and spiritually mature generations.

Through early childhood development and providing a decent learning environment, we are building a solid foundation for children’s full self-expression in the future. Indeed, there is no doubt that the investments spent in the path of such a noble goal will pay off several times over in the future, – Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

In the recent past, the preschool enrollment rate fell to 27%. Almost all preschool institutions lacked modern technologies and manuals, and their facilities were under renovation.

Therefore, the Head of the state pays special attention to this link in the education system, initiating a policy of educating a harmoniously developed generation from an early age. The Ministry of Preschool Education was established according to the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of September 30, 2017. Large-scale work has begun on the construction and repair of kindergartens, the introduction of advanced forms and methods of education.

Favorable conditions have been created for the active participation of the private sector in this process. Kindergartens for each child began to receive subsidies from the State budget. Thousands of family kindergartens were established in remote and out-of-way areas.

As the result, in recent years, the number of kindergartens in the country has increased sixfold. The number of educators and teachers has also increased threefold and reached 160,000. This, in turn, provided an opportunity to increase the number of children receiving education and training in kindergartens from 600 thousand to 2,8 million, the rate of children’s coverage increased to 70%.

The Head of the state also touched upon the issue of the continuity of generations in the education system. It was emphasized that the great scientists and thinkers who lived in the country made a great contribution to the development of the First and Second Eastern Renaissance.

– We are setting the Third Renaissance building in our country as a strategic task and bringing it up to the level of a national idea.

We consider preschool and school education, higher and secondary special education system, as well as scientific and cultural institutions as four integral links of the future Renaissance. We believe that kindergarten teachers, school teachers, professors and scientific and creative intellectuals to be the four pillars of the new Renaissance, – the President said.

In this process, Uzbekistan is following the path of harmonization of its national experience and the world’s best achievements. This work will be consistently continued by taking all necessary measures in order to reach the enrollment of 80% of young children in preschool education in 2025.

The President of Uzbekistan put forward important initiatives to enhance international cooperation in the sphere. In particular, it was proposed to hold this international conference regularly to effectively solve the issue of quality early childhood education at the global level, develop joint solutions and systemic approaches.

An initiative was put forward to establish a UNESCO Regional Center in Tashkent to systematically coordinate all efforts on education in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The need was noted for developing a Comprehensive Program to conduct joint projects and research with the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, to prepare new methods of education and methodical manuals.

It was proposed to create an International Community of Educators to share world best practices, modern interactive teaching methods, rich practical knowledge and skills in this direction.

The importance of including the issue of early childhood education as one of the main topics on the general agenda of the forthcoming summit to be held by the United Nations in 2024 was noted.

The conference continued in panel sessions. Following the conference, the Tashkent Declaration will be adopted.

UzA