Primary Education School Life in Uzbekistan Education in Uzbekistan

Education System in Uzbekistan
Plan

1. 
   Primary Education
   
2. 
   School Life in Uzbekistan
   
3. 
   Education in Uzbekistan
   

Primary Education
In Uzbekistan 11 years of education are compulsory and free, beginning with 4 years at primary school, and followed by 2 phases of secondary education taking 5 and 2 years respectively. Primary school begins at age 6 and there is no specific leaving examination after the 4 years are complete.
Secondary Education
The next 5 years are spent at general secondary school from ages 10 to 15. Following that, there is a choice of between 2 to 3 years of upper education at either general or technical vocational schools. The former provides a certificate of completed secondary education and the opportunity to enter university, the latter a diploma of specialized secondary education, through a network of secondary vocational institutions.
Vocational Education
Unemployment remains relatively high, and there are many people desperately in need of new or more appropriate skills. There are a number of state and donor programs in place to address the structural training shortfall. Eventually, the goal is to meet European union standards.
Tertiary Education
Non university-level tertiary education is provided by national enterprise training centers and a number of business schools, as well as lycea that train professionals in new economic and service fields. Higher education is available from several universities and over 50 higher education institutes. 
The flagship is the Taškent Islamic University opened not many years ago. On its grounds still stands the mausoleum of the grandfather of the Mughal Emperor Basbur dating from the 15th Century.

School Life in Uzbekistan

Schools are generally unheated in Uzbekistan, which can get quite cold in the winter, and children often have to wear their coat, hat and mittens in the classroom (but this is often also the case in Japan and South Korea). Teachers are generally poorly paid. Rural children have a hard time finding enough time to do their chores, go to school and finish their homework. Commenting on her visit to Uzbekistan in 1997, Hillary Clinton wrote in Newsweek, "Despite crumbling schools and rising tuition classrooms were filled with exceptionally bright young people."
Eleven years of primary and secondary education are obligatory, starting at age seven. This requirement includes four years of primary school and two cycles of secondary school, lasting five and two years, respectively. The rate of attendance in those grades is high, although the figure is significantly lower in rural areas than in urban centers. Preschool registration has decreased significantly since 1991. [Source: Library of Congress February 2007 **]
In 1993, 86 percent of population ages six to sixteen in regular or vocational school. The 1993 enrollment in regular and vocational schools, which covered grades one through eleven (ages six through sixteen), was 4.9 million of the estimated 5.7 million children in that age-group. Because of funding shortages, in 1993 the period of compulsory education was shortened from eleven to nine years. The infrastructure problem of schools is most serious at the primary and secondary levels; the government categorizes 50 percent of school buildings as unsuitable, and repair budgets are inadequate. Construction of new schools has been delayed because the boards of capital construction of the two education ministries do not have direct control over contractor pricing or construction practices at local levels. School nutritional levels often are below state standards; an estimated 50 percent of students do not receive a hot meal. In 1992 about 5,300 of Uzbekistan's 8,500 schools had double shifts; because most of these schools were rural, this situation affected only 25 percent of students, however. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
The Progress Center in the remote Aral Sea town of Nukus is an innovative school where students take classes in English and don't sit in rows and listen to lectures but instead sing songs, create their own dramas, watch films, and discuss their feelings.

Curriculum in Uzbekistan

Personality cult measures have woven their way into Uzbekistan school curriculum. In September 2003, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov’s historical writings became the core of the Uzbek national curriculum. In a survey by the U.S. State Department in 2000, 35 percent of Muslims said schools should provide more religious instruction for children.
In the early 1990s, the greatest controversy in curriculum policy was which language should be used for teaching in state schools.