Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – Minister of Preschool Education Agrippina Shin met with UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini.

Within the framework of the meeting, issues of implementation of reforms in the preschool education system and assessment of the results achieved, as well as promising areas of development in the field of preschool education for the coming years were discussed.

Education and upbringing of preschool children is one of the priority directions of the state’s activity. In accordance with paragraph 4.2 of the PCM "On measures to implement the National Goals and Objectives for Sustainable Development for the period up to 2030", positive results have been achieved in ensuring access to improved systems for the development, care and preschool education of young children, so that boys and girls were ready for primary education by 2030. As a result of an increase in the coverage of preschool education in the republic from 27% in 2017 to 62% by 2021, today the coverage is 1.7 million people. Preschool children got access to preschool education. Moreover, in 2019, in the Republic of Uzbekistan, in order to create equal opportunities in primary education for all children, a system of compulsory preschool education was introduced a year before entering school.

"Today, 77% of children 6-7 years of age preschool age are covered by the preschool education system, and by 2025 it is planned to fully cover the system of compulsory preparation of children for primary education," said Minister of Preschool Education Agrippina Shin.

"It is commendable that in a short period of time in the Republic of Uzbekistan the level of coverage of children with the preschool education system has grown almost 2.5 times, and the coverage of 6-7 years old children with compulsory one-year education reached 77%, a lot of work has been done under the state program Ilk Qadam and to improve the qualifications of teachers. Today, Uzbekistan is leading in terms of the coverage of children for such a short period of the Ministry of Preschool Education formation, and I can say for sure that I have become the Champion in this area,” said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director General for Education.