President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed decree Saturday creating a Ministry of Preschool Education. The ministry will include the Ministry of pre-school education of Karakalpakstan, the Tashkent city, provincial, town and district offices.
As noted in the decree, over the past 20 years, the number of state pre-schools in Uzbekistan has decreased by more than 45%, and coverage of children by preschools is at below 30%.
Facilities and resources of pre-schools do not meet standards, the decree says. There are no choice based programs, alternative, flexible educational models for preparation of children to schools are insufficiently developed, and there are no state programs based on the example of developed countries, which provide for social, personal, emotional, speech, mathematical, physical and creative development of children.
The main tasks of the new ministry inlude step by step coverage of children with pre-schools through creation of a network of state and private preschools, as well as by introducing alternative forms of pre-school education and upbringing of children.
