Unique national Uzbekistan Curriculum aims to reach 8.8 million learners

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Cambridge University Press & Assessment (Cambridge) are working together to reform the Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Education. This week, they step up efforts as they roll out a series of training workshops across Uzbekistan.

A bold bid to improve quality across Uzbekistan’s education sector, the curriculum reform is a main priority under the SmartEd Project. The project is funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Arab Coordination Group (AGC), and the Global Partnership on Education (GPE), and is implemented jointly by MOPSE, UNICEF, and Cambridge. The reform tackles a dual challenge: ensuring that all learners build foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy, and equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need for the future.

“Uzbekistan’s education reform is about creating a quality, reliable, inclusive, and modern education system for the new generation. In improving curricula, special attention is paid to the principles of competency-based education, gender equality, inclusion, socio-emotional education, as well as climate change and environmental responsibility, and the development of technological and digital literacy”, said Dilshoda Norbaeva, a.i. Director of the Republican Education Center.

The current reform has seen online and face-to-face workshops that bring together international experts, local senior educators, researchers, trainers, and teaching practitioners in all subjects. It is the beginning of a strong push by the Uzbekistan government to improve learning outcomes, enable successful transitions to life and work, while also making Uzbek students competitive against the best international standards.

“A modernized curriculum should strengthen foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional competencies, these are essential building blocks for all future learning”, said UNICEF Representative Ms. Regina Castillo. “At the same time, we hope that the reform will integrate 21st-century skills – critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, digital literacy, and collaboration – that are increasingly necessary for success in a rapidly changing world”.

In an unprecedented approach to curriculum reform, MoPSE aims to build on Uzbekistan’s rich educational approaches and align them with curriculum content and assessments from high-attaining education systems internationally. Furthermore, for the first time, the process of curriculum revision is underpinned by robust analysis and a clear roadmap, with a shared understanding of expectations compared with high-attaining education systems.

The curriculum reform relates to all phases of education, from Pre-School Level upwards, in line with Resolution CM 157, which sets out the process and quality assurance criteria for the development of educational standards. It will be based on extensive co-creation and consultation with education stakeholders and teachers.

Building on the best international expertise and practices, this is the first time in a curriculum review process that every subject team is supported by strong international subject experts, who will work with the team regularly throughout the year to complete a full curriculum revision. While international experts were previously engaged in the curriculum development process, it never covered all subjects and grades, and it has never been such a deep co-creation process.

Steve King, Head of Education Reform, Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Partnership for Education, Cambridge, said: “Working with partners across Uzbekistan, I’ve seen a nation whose drive for progress is matched by a determination to do it right and a very long history of scholarship and learning. The vision of an education system in Uzbekistan that has a world-class curriculum, assessed by fair, reliable, and internationally recognized exams, and taught by well-trained, qualified, highly skilled teachers is achievable and within reach”.

Once finalized and implemented, the impact will be transformative, reaching 8.8 million learners from preschool and school annually, including those who have additional needs due to disability, different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, UNICEF Uzbekistan reports.

Nazokat Usmanova, UzA