On October 20, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the Further Development of the Uzbek language and Improvement of the Language Policy in Uzbekistan Decree. Starting from this year, on October 21 in Uzbekistan will be marked the Day of Uzbek language.
The Decree has approved the Concept for the development of the Uzbek language and the improvement of language policy in 2020-2030, aimed at:
- achieving a full and proper use of the potential of the state language (Uzbek language) in all areas of the country's social and political life;
- improving the system of teaching the state language in educational institutions, enhancing its reputation as the language of science;
- preserving the purity of the Uzbek language and its enrichment, improving the culture of speech of the public;
- ensuring active integration of the state language with modern ITs;
- increasing the role and authority of the Uzbek language at the international level;
- creation of broad and equal opportunities for the development of languages of all ethnic minorities living in the country, as well as favorable conditions for their study of the state language.
Additionally, the Main Areas for the Development of the Uzbek Language and Improvement of the Language Policy in 2020-2030 were approved.
The main areas are to bring the coverage of Uzbek groups in the public preschool education system to 72% by 2025, and to 80% by 2030 by expanding the territory of existing preschool educational institutions and new institutions.
The volume of teaching the "Native language" in the basic curricula of general education schools, compiled for the academic year, is planned to increase from 84 to 110 hours per week by 2030.
The number of departments of the Uzbek language in higher educational institutions by 2025 will be brought to 120, and by 2030 - to 140.
It is planned to gradually increase the number published volumes of the National Encyclopedia of Uzbekistan in the Uzbek alphabet based on the Latin script, to create in 2020 15 linguistic, industry-specific terminological and explanatory dictionaries that enrich the vocabulary of the Uzbek language.
It is planned to introduce a training system for TV announcers and major TV and radio channels at retraining courses that contribute to improving the culture of speech in the Uzbek literary language, with bringing their coverage to 100% by 2030.
By 2025, electronic samples of industry documents on office work in the state language, as well as 14 online programs for their use, should be developed, bringing this figure to 25 by 2030.
It is planned to create apps and programs for electronic dictionaries in the Uzbek language, as well as programs for teaching the Uzbek language for foreign citizens.
By 2030, the number of centers for teaching the Uzbek language in foreign universities is planned to increase from the existing 17 to 60.
The Decree instructed the government to form a working group within three months to ensure a complete transition to the Uzbek alphabet, based on the Latin script, and to develop a "road map" that provides specific measures, sources and sums of their funding.
From April 1, 2021, on the basis of the national testing system for assessing knowledge of the Uzbek language and literature, the proficiency level of public servants in the state language will be determined, as well as certificates on the level of proficiency in the state language by persons appointed to responsible positions will be introduced.
In addition, it is planned to create a national corpus of the Uzbek language in electronic form, including all scientific, theoretical and practical information about the Uzbek language.
The decree also provides for the design of a computer program for translation from the Uzbek language into the world's leading languages and from foreign languages into the Uzbek language.
