Uzbek-American project to contribute to the implementation of the third of the five initiatives of the President

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan and the United States of America (USA) signed a landmark Development Objective Assistance Agreement (DOAG) on 28 September 2019, under which the American side will allocate up to US$50 million to support education sector reform in Uzbekistan over the next five years.

Minister of Public Education of Uzbekistan Sherzod Shermatov, U.S. Embassy Charge d'affaires Alan Meltzer and USAID Acting Regional Mission Director for Central Asia Julie Southfield signed an agreement.

This is the first comprehensive bilateral development grant agreement between the U.S. Government and the Government of Uzbekistan, which outlines the United States’ long-term commitment to supporting progress in the education sector.  Activities funded under this agreement will be implemented in close coordination with the Government of Uzbekistan to improve early grade reading and math outcomes, use of information technology, and English language instruction. The document envisages the provision of the first tranche forUS$19.5 million.

In particular, within the framework of the project, the Ministry of Public Education will receive a science-based strategy for the implementation of the IT Nation initiative, which is aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of students in the field of information technology. It is planned to integrate modern information technology into the educational process.

The implementation of this component will make it possible to contribute to the implementation of the third of five initiatives of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the organization of social and spiritual-educational work on the new system. The third initiative of the head of Uzbekistan is aimed at organizing the effective use of computer technology and the Internet by the population and youth.

One of the problems in the field of education is the lack of tools for an objective assessment of children's knowledge and skills. With the support of USAID, reading and math skills will also be conducted in primary schools (EGRA and EGMA) in Uzbekistan's general education schools. These studies will help identify gaps in the education of children and take measures to address them. For these purposes, USAID will additionally allocate funds in the amount of US$1.5 million.

Within the framework of the project, USAID will support the Ministry of Public Education in the implementation of the English Speaking Nation project, aimed at improving the teaching of English in schools through the introduction of modern teaching methods. The American side will provide another US$5 million for the implementation of this project.

In May 2019, the Concept of Development of the Public Education System of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030 was adopted. The project will support the achievement of the objectives of this Concept.