Dictation tests highlight literacy issues in Syrdarya State Institutions

On April 17, 2025, acting governor of Syrdarya region, Erkinjon Turdimov, conducted a dictation exercise as part of a regional administration meeting to evaluate the literacy levels of senior officials in state institutions. The initiative was carried out to assess adherence to state language requirements, as reported by UzA.

Since January 1, 2023, Uzbekistan has enforced the use of the Latin-based Uzbek alphabet in official documents and communications, based on the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution “On Measures to Ensure Full Transition to the Latin-Based Uzbek Alphabet.” During the meeting, Turdimov extensively reviewed the implementation of this mandate across the Syrdarya region.

The regional administration’s working group conducted inspections. It revealed several instances of non-compliance in organizations such as the Mahalla Union, the Tax Authority, the Health Department, the Economy and Finance Department, and some commercial banks. Common issues included the continued use of the Cyrillic alphabet, along with frequent spelling and stylistic errors. These violations were thoroughly examined and criticized during the session.

Dictation exercises were introduced to assess the literacy levels of officials. However, the results exposed significant gaps in compliance. Among nine officials from the Health Department, six received unsatisfactory grades. Four out of five officials from “Regional Electric Networks” JSC failed the test. Seven of ten officials from the Syrdarya branch of “Uztelekom” JSC were deemed unsatisfactory, and four of eight officials from the regional branch of “Uzbekistan Post” JSC also performed poorly.

This situation was met with serious criticism from the regional leadership. Turdimov stressed that conducting official work in the state language is both a legal obligation and a civic responsibility for officials and those in leadership roles.

The regional administration laid out measures to rectify these shortcomings. It tasked relevant officials with addressing the deficiencies and implemented plans for systematic training on conducting official work in the state language. Managerial staff will be enrolled in professional development programs as part of broader efforts to improve literacy and ensure compliance with the language mandate.