Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Finance Inquirer referring to the results of the international study by RGCA and data from UNICEF, the World Bank and the OECD, has published a ranking of top 10 countries with the best dynamics of enrollment of children in preschool education. Uzbekistan scored the first place in the global ranking.

The report includes an overview of long-term trends in preschool education covering the period from 2018 to 2020. According to the data presented in the article, the situation with preschool education in majority of the regions of the world is either stagnating or encountered recession, while a number of countries are characterized by impressive growth. The most striking example is Uzbekistan, where the dynamics of growth of enrollment of children aged 3 to 6 years with preschool education totaled 59% in report period.

Commenting on the event, the Minister of Preschool Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan Agrippina Shin noted: “Such a appreciation of the work of our team at the global level is especially delighting on the eve of the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education. Definitely, UNESCO event of this level to be held in Tashkent for the first time bears symbolic meaning. I can say that there is a rationale for the figures presented in the study: the attention paid by the country's leadership to the development of preschool education since 2017 has led to tangible results, even considering the pandemic lockdowns stage which gave trying time to everyone. I do believe that we will be able to maintain high growth rates and, in the coming future, reach the level of the world's leading countries, not only in terms of growth dynamics, but also in absolute values.”

Majority of the countries included in the RGCA study invest heavily in preschool education programs, with program costs subsidized by government funding – on average, totaling around 69% of overall spendings on preschool institutions.

In addition to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan (+33%), Belarus (+7%), Finland (+7%), Kazakhstan (+4%), Lithuania (+4%), Turkey (+4%), Switzerland (+2%), Poland (+2%) and Azerbaijan (+1%) entered top the top ten countries. More than half of the countries presented in the ranking faced decrease in the enrollment of children in preschool education in 2018-2020.