’’New generation’’ kindergartens to be established, similar to Presidential schools

From now on, ’’New generation’’ kindergartens, similar to Presidential schools, will be established in every region of Uzbekistan. This was announced today, September 15, by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his meeting with teachers and mentors in the Bostanlik district of the Tashkent region.

It was noted that from the very first stage of reforms, great attention has been paid to the development of the preschool education system. In 2017, more than 4,000 neighborhoods had no kindergartens at all, and coverage did not exceed 27 percent. Today, the number of kindergartens has surpassed 38,000, with coverage exceeding 78 percent.

It was emphasized that thanks to the newly announced benefits and opportunities in the education sector, no neighborhood will be left without a kindergarten, and coverage will not fall below 80 percent.

Salaries of kindergarten teachers have been equalized with those of school teachers. Starting this month, kindergarten principals will also receive the same salary as deputy school directors. In short, the salaries of kindergarten administrators and teachers have nearly doubled.

From now on, a system will be introduced whereby part of the salaries of teachers in private kindergartens, as well as part of children’s expenses, will be covered by the state budget.

It should be noted that although more than 120,000 teachers currently work in over 7,000 state kindergartens, only 34 percent of them have higher education. At present, a university diploma is required for kindergarten teachers to obtain the same category as school teachers. For this reason, there remains a difference in salaries between teachers with higher education and those with secondary education.

Therefore, a system has been introduced to allow both state and private kindergarten teachers to study at universities without leaving their jobs, enabling 10,000 teachers per year to obtain higher education.

In addition, ’’New generation’’ kindergartens, similar to Presidential schools, will be established in every region, where teachers will learn advanced pedagogical technologies. Most importantly, the doors of these institutions will always remain open for private kindergarten teachers as well, so they too can master new methodologies.