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 What is the secret of the success of the "Uzbek model" of preschool education?
As the President noted in his Address to the Oliy Majlis and the people of Uzbekistan, our country is becoming one of the centers of world politics, and this is widely recognized by the international community. So, in November last year, a World conference on the upbringing and education of young children was held in the capital, which introduced the world to the "Uzbek model" of preschool education.
The proposals put forward by the head of state and specialists from our country were included in the Tashkent Declaration, which defined the world agenda in the sphere until 2030. As emphasized in the relevant department, many foreign colleagues expressed a desire to study the experience of our country in more detail. UNESCO Deputy Director General for Education Stefania Giannini highly appreciated the achievements of Uzbekistan: "It is commendable that in a short period of time in the Republic of Uzbekistan the level of coverage of children by the preschool education system has increased almost 2.5 times, a lot of work has been done on the state program "Ilk Kadam" and on the professional development of teachers. Uzbekistan is leading in the coverage of children in such a short period and has become a champion in this area."
Indeed, since 2017, the number of kindergarten students has increased from 27.7 to 71.8 percent. Five years ago, preschool educational organizations covered only 708 thousand boys and girls. Now, more than two million children have gained access to preschool in the capital and regions, in the city and in the countryside.
Solid foundation
What predetermined the success of the reforms?
Attending kindergarten, a child takes the first independent steps into the big world, socializes, makes friends, develops comprehensively, prepares for systematic schooling. In order for the healthy habits, knowledge and skills laid down during this period to become a good foundation for further life, a solid legislative framework has been created in Uzbekistan. The Law "On Preschool Education and Upbringing" and more than a hundred regulatory legal acts, including presidential decrees and resolutions, have been adopted.
New state standards of preschool education have been approved. For the first time, not only specialists of the system, but also a wide range of foreign experts and international organizations were involved in the work on them. Taking into account their recommendations, the state educational program "Ilk Kadam" ("The first step"), based on a modern competent approach, has been developed.
In a single impulse
The sphere of preschool education has become the first in the country where the mechanism of public-private partnership has been rapidly introduced. It was the involvement of entrepreneurs and investors that made it possible to increase the number of kindergartens several times in five years. More than ten forms of PPP have been introduced, broad incentives have been created for the development of the industry. Among them are preferential loans, compensation for utility bills, favorable conditions for renting land plots and much more.
Over the past years, agreements have been signed with 1,419 entrepreneurs for 3.7 trillion soums to create non-state DOE, of which the amount of concessional loans amounted to 2.6 trillion soums. In total, 21,505 preschool organizations and family kindergartens were opened on the basis of PPP, which were able to accept over 638 thousand pupils. More than 55 thousand people are provided with jobs. The share of the non-State sector increased from 0.01 to 34 percent.
Funds of foreign investors are attracted to the sphere. In 2022, as a result of negotiations with international financial institutions, public-private partnership projects totaling $ 30 million were approved. For example, an agreement has been reached between the Islamic Development Bank and the relevant ministry, within the framework of which it is planned to create about 120 non-state DOE in the regions. And there are many similar projects. 
In total, about 80 memoranda and agreements have been signed with foreign partners and international organizations in order to develop the preschool education system in five years. The list of cooperation includes the Republic of Korea, China, the USA, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, Belarus and such structures as the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, KOICA, the Saudi Development Fund, Mercy Corps, and many others.
Equal conditions for all
From the very beginning of the reforms, ensuring equal access to preschool education for all children has become a key priority. More than five years ago, when studying the situation with the coverage of children in kindergartens, it turned out that there are hard-to-reach areas in Uzbekistan where children have never attended preschool. The indicators in rural mahallas were low.
The solution was an innovative alternative model of preschool education — mobile kindergartens "Aqlvoy". For their organization in 2019, converted ISUZU buses were delivered to the regions, on the basis of which mobile educational groups were formed. Now the sunny yellow "Aqlvoy" bus, decorated with bright drawings, is welcomed with joy by the residents of 142 mahallas. 387 mobile groups based on 65 buses have been formed. About seven thousand children study for free.
This solution has proven its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. The curriculum of the mobile kindergarten is adapted to modern trends, aimed at the development, socialization and preparation of children for school through useful and exciting activities. The linguistic peculiarities of the regions are taken into account. The project involves experienced teachers who are able to interest children, establish trusting relationships with them, instill a craving for knowledge and a love of reading. The "Aqlvoy" project has already received international recognition.
Children in need of special care are also not left without attention. In April 2019, the country's first specialized preschool educational organization with the rehabilitation center "Imkon" was opened in the Republic of Karakalpakstan. The uniqueness of the project is that it provides socio-cultural development, education and health rehabilitation of children with disabilities.
 In 2021, the second such institution opened its doors in the Kibray district of the Tashkent region. Also, since July 2022, state multidisciplinary specialized preschool educational organizations with a rehabilitation center have started working in two more cities of Uzbekistan: "Imkon" — in Karshi and "Umid" — in Zarafshan.
Imkon centers with a full—fledged rehabilitation center and a kindergarten for 150 places are a completely new model in the preschool education system. Teachers and medical staff, together with parents, develop a plan for the development and rehabilitation of each child, and it is being implemented in stages. The institutions are equipped with modern didactic materials, correctional and rehabilitation equipment. There is a physiotherapy room, a gym, social adaptation rooms, fairy tale therapy, sensory and audio rooms, an indoor swimming pool. The centers are equipped with foreign equipment and inventory, such as a paraffin stove, dry massage baths, neuro-orthopedic pneumatic suits, orthopedic bicycles, recumbent scooters, flexible chairs.
In order to provide social support to families living in areas with a low level of economic development, payment benefits have been introduced in the DOE. In state kindergartens located in 60 districts, the parental fee for the maintenance of a child is 50 percent, in another 71 districts and cities — in the amount of 70 percent. Children from families recognized as poor through the information system "Unified Register of Social Protection" are exempt from parental fees within 15 percent of the total number of children in preschool. Kids with severe mental and physical ailments, from families who have lost a breadwinner attend kindergarten for free.
Time requirement
Now, in any field, it is impossible to do without advanced information technologies. They are also indispensable for ensuring transparency in the work of state institutions and eradicating corruption. The path to achieving these goals was opened by the "OpenEMIS" program — "Bolalar Bogchasi" — an information system for managing preschool education, introduced in 2018. Its launch ensured transparent admission of children to preschool organizations on the basis of an electronic queue.
More than 6.5 thousand, or 99 percent of state preschool educational organizations are connected to high-speed Internet. They have over seven thousand computers installed. Information technologies are also being actively introduced into the educational process. Here are just a few examples. In cooperation with UNICEF, the relevant ministry has developed the Learning Passport platform. It is a flexible mobile application that allows users from different countries to connect to the world's existing digital educational platforms.
According to the Ilk Kadam program, a multimedia collection of songs for young children has been created. It is aimed at introducing kids to music, developing their creative abilities, hearing and sense of rhythm. The final product consists of a set of pictures with lyrics and notes, a flash card with melodies, a wireless speaker for listening to music. In 2022, six thousand such kits were delivered to the DOO.
A mobile game "InnoKids" has been developed for preschool children, which was created by experienced teachers and experts. An entertaining application with high-quality graphics captivates and develops kids. With the participation of the Korean Institute of Robotics Development KIRIA and other partners, 275 intelligent robots "Albert" and "Genibot", 350 textbooks for teaching robotics and programming skills were provided to kindergartens of the republic. At the first stage, the child uses ready-made coding cards to make the toy move, blink, speak. Older children can connect the robot to a smartphone and create their own commands and algorithms.
The main figure is a teacher
With the increase in the number of kindergartens in Uzbekistan, the need for professional teaching staff has also increased significantly. In 2017, 58 thousand teachers worked in the preschool education system, now it is more than 151 thousand specialists. Five years ago, the need for educators with higher education was identified. With this in mind, the quotas for admission to universities in the direction of "preschool education" have been increased 2.5 times. The terms of training specialists for kindergartens in the bachelor's degree have been reduced from four to three years.
 Branches of reputable foreign universities have been opened in Tashkent — the South Korean University of Puchon and the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A. Herzen, which train teachers for preschool education and have proven themselves well.
Within five years, on the basis of the Ministry, specialized universities, retraining centers, more than 73 thousand managerial and pedagogical personnel of the preschool educational institution have been trained. New approaches are being introduced in the training of professionals with higher and secondary specialized education, improving their knowledge.
Do not stop there
In addition to achievements, there are still a lot of problems in the field. One of them, which hinders the efforts of the state, is corruption, which is still found in the placement of children in preschool and other issues. In 2022, a lot of facts about bribes were transferred to law enforcement agencies.
A memorandum has been signed with the Anti-Corruption Agency, and new mechanisms are being sought to ensure that financial issues in the industry where the younger generation is being brought up depend as little as possible on the human factor. However, citizens should also realize that by paying extra for the placement of their child in kindergarten without waiting in line, you are committing a crime, as well as depriving another kid of the legal right to this place.
Now only a little more than 30 percent of preschool teachers have a higher education. The salaries of educators and their assistants, who put their soul and a lot of work into our children, remain relatively low. It is no coincidence that the training of qualified teachers and their comprehensive support have become one of the main points of the Tashkent Declaration adopted in the capital following the UNESCO World Conference. The quality of education in family kindergartens and pre-school institutions created on the basis of public-private partnership requires special attention. In densely populated cities, parents have to send their children to groups of 35 kids or more. There are still questions about nutrition in kindergartens, not all private companies involved in providing pupils with a balanced diet based on outsourcing meet expectations.
In short, there are a lot of problematic issues. However, by combining the efforts of the state and the public, it is quite possible to solve them and achieve the goal set by the President — to achieve 80 percent coverage of children with preschool education in the next five years, create another 600 thousand places in preschool, radically improve the system of education and training in them.