October 1 – Teachers and Mentors Day

When it comes to the country’s development, the education of the younger generation comes to the fore. Education is the basis of upbringing, so these concepts are inseparable. The primary responsibility of a teacher is to be able to educate, which lays the ground for education.

What is the scale of work today to improve the status of teachers in Uzbekistan and adequately evaluate their work? UzA correspondent’s conversation with the Minister of Preschool and School Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Khilola Umarova, was devoted to these issues.

– First of all, we congratulate you and, in your person, all our teachers on October 1 – Teachers and Mentors Day.

– Thank you! Before starting our conversation, I would like to sincerely congratulate all the teachers and mentors of our country on the upcoming holiday. I wish the representatives of our noble, but at the same time challenging profession great success in their professional activities, family happiness and prosperity, good health, and inexhaustible energy.

– What work to protect the rights of teachers can you mention?

– It should be recognized that in the recent past, there have been such unpleasant situations as the involvement of teachers in forced labor, forcing them to perform work that is not part of their professional duties. Thanks to the strong will and personal initiative of the Head of our state, acts of discrimination against human rights have ended in recent years. Increasing the status and authority of teachers is considered at the state policy level, and the necessary conditions are created for their full-fledged professional activities. Article 52 of the renewed Constitution provides several legal grounds for protecting the honor and dignity of teachers, ensuring their social and material well-being and professional growth. This created a legal basis for increasing the authority of teachers in society and protecting their professional activities by the state.

It would not be a mistake to say that the Law adopted on March 27 this year, “On introducing amendments and addenda to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan on administrative liability in connection with increased liability for obstructing the performance of official duties by teaching staff” became a logical continuation of efforts in this direction. The viability of the legal norms enshrined in the law lies in a transparent and fair definition of aspects related to violations of the labor rights of teachers.

Please note that, in general, engaging a person in forced labor is punishable by a fine of up to one hundred times the basic monthly wage, and according to this law, engaging teachers in forced labor is punishable by a fine of up to one hundred and fifty basic monthly salaries.

Another aspect: from now on, administrative coercion to work in any form, except cases provided for by law, committed against a teacher of an educational organization, after applying an administrative penalty for the same act, is punishable by a fine of one hundred fifty to two hundred basic calculation units or deprivation certain rights for up to three years or correctional labor for up to three years. It follows from this that engaging or coercing teachers into forced labor can lead to administrative and criminal liability. More specifically, officials who repeatedly commit a similar situation may be sentenced to an administrative penalty of up to 15 days.

At the same time, another draft law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the status of a teacher”, which is being considered by the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, provides several essential aspects. In particular, it is prohibited to require a teacher to generate and deliver reports and other information that is not part of his professional duties, including information on taxes, utility bills, loans, and other debts of the population, reports on the employment of graduates.

– What work is done in schools to increase student places and create favorable conditions for teachers?

– Of course, over time, the demographic growth of the population and, accordingly, an increase in the need for education gives rise to the need to constantly update the industry’s infrastructure and create more student places. Several important works have been carried out in this direction over the past period of this year.

By the resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures for the development of social and industrial infrastructure of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2023-2025”, of December 30, 2022, in our country, work will be carried out on the construction, repair, and equipment of 338 secondary schools (including the construction of 24 new, reconstruction of 237 and major maintenance of 77 schools). More than 2.1 trillion UZS have been allocated from the State Budget for these purposes.

In 236 out of 338 educational institutions, construction and repairs are planned (construction of 17, reconstruction of 148, and major maintenance of 71), work has been completed, and 102 is ongoing.

With local hokimiyats, contract agreements have been concluded for 2.1 trillion UZS, work has been completed for 1.6 trillion UZS (82 percent), and funds have been allocated for 1.4 trillion UZS (71 percent). Due to planned and ongoing construction and repair work this year, more than 89 thousand new student places will be created in secondary schools, existing general education institutions with more than 63 thousand student places will be completely renovated, and 46 gyms will be built.

Completing construction and repair work in 236 educational facilities made it possible to create 49.6 thousand student places (11.2 thousand of them through the construction of new schools, 38.4 thousand through the construction of additional educational buildings) and existing buildings with more than 44.2 thousand student places.

At the same time, new gyms were built and put into operation in 33 schools. It should be noted that in 2023, construction of 57 and reconstruction of 123 began in the preschool education system, and major repairs of two facilities are planned. As a result, 19,660 new jobs will be created.

Of the total number of objects for which construction and repair work was planned, 102 were completed and put into operation (of which 34 were built, 66 were reconstructed, and two schools were overhauled). Due to the commissioning 102 facilities, more than 10.6 thousand new student places were created in preschool education institutions.

– The Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of May 26, 2023, provides for the introduction from January 1, 2024, of a system of professional certification of applicants hired for the first time in schools. How are these processes carried out?

– From the 2023/2024 academic year, applicants with higher education, hired for the first time in the teaching profession, operate as trainee teachers, and, within one year from the date of hire, they are required to obtain a professional certificate. The basic tariff rate of a teacher with higher education (without category) is applied to a trainee teacher until he receives a professional certification.

The ministry has prepared a draft relevant legislative act for timely and high-quality implementation of these processes. This practice creates several opportunities to develop teachers’ professional activities and their more effective work. In particular, through this process, the knowledge of teaching staff in the training, educational direction, specialty, or specialization specified in the document on education will be tested, teaching skills will be studied, and an objective assessment will be given. As a result, it will be possible to staff secondary education institutions with highly educated, literate, talented, and competent teaching staff. It is envisaged that this practice will not apply to the teaching staff of specialized schools of art and culture, boarding schools, and non-state education organizations in the Ministry of Culture and the Academy of Arts system.

– Paragraph 7 of the UNESCO recommendation “On the Status of Teachers” of July 5, 1966, enshrines the principle of teacher freedom. Share your views on challenges in the international direction.

– Indeed, this document strengthens the principle of teacher freedom at the international level.

Article 45 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Education” also includes such a legal norm and states that the status of teachers is recognized by society and the state. This year, our ministry, with UNESCO and the World Bank, implements various projects in this direction. In particular, on September 21-22, the Central Asian Symposium on Education was organized in Tashkent on “Skilled Teachers – Skilled Nation”.

At the same time, on August 8-9, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education and UNESCO organized the Second Forum of Teachers. It identified essential tasks to improve teachers’ professional skills and education quality in the new academic year. In continuation of the forum in all regions of our country, including on August 15-17 in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the city of Tashkent and regions, on August 22-24 in districts and cities, and on August 28-29 in educational institutions, workshops were organized to improve teachers’ qualifications.

As another project, three-stage cascade training workshops were organized with the participation of mathematics and English teachers, aimed at introducing modern teaching methods in secondary schools and popularizing the experience of Presidential Schools. To date, 16,021 mathematics teachers and 17,477 English teachers have participated in these trainings.

– What are the advantages of the new assessment system introduced to improve the quality of education?

– According to the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of May 26, 2023, to raise preschool and general secondary education to a new level, improve its quality, and improve educational programs, starting from the 2023/2024 academic year, a new procedure for assessing knowledge has been gradually introduced in secondary schools.

In accordance with it, the knowledge of students in grades 5-11 is assessed using formative and summative methods. Formative assessment is a process of continuous feedback between teachers and students. Feedback can be oral or written, formal or informal. This is a constant process of obtaining information about the student’s performance to adjust his actions.

Summative assessment formally assesses a student’s mastery of competencies defined in the state educational standard and curricula during a certain study period. This process is carried out in tests, writing, project work, oral speech, presentations, practical exercises, laboratory, creative, and other similar projects. The teacher enters student performance data in an electronic journal during these assessment processes. Students who score high are exempted from the quarterly final assessment for a certain period. To ensure transparency of evaluation, the corresponding summative assessment in subjects is carried out based on uniform requirements for all parallel classes. Based on the exam results, students’ scores will be recorded in an electronic journal within a week. Those who violate the internal procedure for conducting summative assessment will be removed from it.

– Would you please tell us about the teachers in our country from abroad?

– We all know well that learning a foreign language with its confirmed native speakers is very effective. Therefore, starting this year, we have attracted more than 500 foreign teachers to schools in Uzbekistan. Applications were received from 1,755 applicants, and 649 qualified teachers received initial contract offers. To date, 38 foreign language teachers who have signed the agreement have a doctorate, 180 have a master’s degree, and 166 have a bachelor’s degree. These specialists are international teachers from 36 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, India, Canada, the Philippines, South Africa, Belgium, Egypt, etc.

Working with foreign teachers brings great pleasure to our students, and parents are happy too. The reason is that additional foreign language courses are organized for schoolchildren with the participation of foreign language teachers three times a week. Once a week, masterclasses and trainings for local teachers are organized.

In the future, the focus of the state will be on increasing the authority and status of teachers who have dedicated their lives to a great and noble cause – educating the younger generation, showing them due honor and respect, and worthy assessment of their work. There is no doubt that an essential basis for this will be the consolidation of the status of the teacher in our renewed Constitution.

Interviewed by Abdulaziz Rustamov, UzA