Education in Uzbekistan/Educational Policy and Law in Uzbekistan
Legislative framework of education includes the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Article 41 of the Constitution declares: "Everyone has the right to education. The State shall guarantee free secondary education. The school is under the supervision of the State." Concretization of the Constitutional provisions on education carried accepted August 29, 1997 Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On education", according to which education shall be a priority in the social development of the country (Article 3). The law defines the legal basis training, training citizens and seeks to ensure the constitutional right of everyone to education. Fundamental principles, goals of state educational policy, focused on the individual, on the education of perfect generation identified in the National Program for training, approved by the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 29 August 1997. The program provides for implementation of national model training, creation of socio‐economic, legal, psychological and pedagogical and other conditions for the formation of a fully developed personality, adapting to life in today's changing society, informed choice and subsequent development of educational and training programs, education of citizens, conscious of their responsibility to society, the state and the family. Programme identifies priorities for modernization of education system and establish stages of its implementation. The basis of the legal framework of the educational system of the Republic of Uzbekistan pledged by the international community norms and principles of managing security and protection of human rights and freedoms, including the main provisions:
- Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- Convention against Discrimination in Education;
- Convention on Technical and Vocational Education;
- Convention on the Prevention of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
- Convention on the Rights of Persons belonging to national minorities;
- Convention on the Prevention of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
- Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
Incarnation of international norms, rules and recommendations reflected in the Constitution and the laws "On Education" (1997), "On the National Program for Training" (1997) and "On Guarantees of the Rights of the Child" (2008), as well as regulations of the country. The main provisions of these documents are reflected in Article 4 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Education": "Everyone is guaranteed equal rights to an education regardless of gender, language, age, race, ethnicity, creed, religion, social origin, occupation, residence, duration of residence in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan." We should also highlight the legislation not directly related to the education system, but determining the conditions of teaching children with special needs. These include the "Law on the Rights of the Child," "On the official language" and "On social protection of disabled people in the Republic of Uzbekistan." Law "On Guarantees of the Rights of the Child" (2008) established the right of every child to education, provided guarantees for a free and compulsory secondary education and specialized secondary and vocational education. Law, being the main document regulating relations in the field of children's rights guarantees, guarantees the rights of vulnerable children
Development model Uzbekistan chose to consider the country’s specifics in social and political system and its traditions led to the situation, where universal, in civilized world, norms and principles of social, political, economic and moral life became dominant and are defining not only the country’s current state of affairs but also its moving forward. A perfect system of continuous education based on the modern economy, science, culture, engineering and technology is a fundamental precondition for the country’s development. This system ensures formation of the new generation of human resources that will be capable of identifying long term objective and effectively achieve them; generation that shows high standards of general culture and professional skills; people that are creative, socially active and able to, independently, appreciate social and political landscape. To radically reform educational system, NPPT was devised and implanted following the President’s initiative. NPPT is the regulatory framework of the reforms, which provides for radical transformation of the structure and the content of education such as a compulsory free 12‐year education, including a nine‐ year general secondary education plus a three‐year secondary specialized vocational education as well as a two‐level higher education system (bachelor and master). Given a depth and large scale of reformation, as a part of NPPT’s implementation, nation‐wide efforts were taken, in 2004‐2009, to develop general secondary education based on the State National Program for Development of School Education (SNPDSE).
30,492,800 population permanently lives in Uzbekistan by 01.01.2014. Out of them, 51.0 % is urban population and 49.0% is rural population. Average population density is 67.9 people per one square km. In terms of the population size, Uzbekistan takes the third place in CIS, following Russia and the Ukraine. However, unlike the two others, Uzbekistan shows high birth rate and a positive population increase rate. In 2013, this figure was 499 300 people or, 1.7 %. The country has 119 towns and cities and 168 districts. Uzbekistan is a multi‐ethnic country; over 125 ethnic groups live there.
Continuous education of the population is a distinguished feature of the national model of educational system. Every individual has an opportunity to acquire knowledge, vocational skills and professions throughout all his life. State educational standards and consistency of educational programs for various levels ensure the system of continuous education.
The system entails the following:
1) Pre‐school education;
2) General secondary education;
3) Secondary special, vocational education;
4) Higher education;
5) Post graduate education;
6) Re‐training and skills‐improvement of the personnel;
7) Out‐of‐school education