Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the procurement of the licenses of two school textbook series developed by international publishing companies to the Ministry of Public Education of Uzbekistan. Worth $10 million, the series consist of Information and Communications Technology student textbooks and teacher guides for grades 5-11 as well as English as a Foreign Language student textbooks, workbooks and teacher guides for grades 1-11.
Adapted to the Uzbekistan context, the textbooks will be piloted in 200 schools in the 2021-2022 school year. The nationwide dissemination of these textbooks to over 6.5 million students will start from the 2022-2023 school year.
In addition to the textbooks, USAID handed over student standards for Uzbek Language Arts and Mathematics (grades 1-4), and Information and Communications Technology (grades 5-11) which were developed under the USAID funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Education. These high-quality foundational documents, which are closely aligned to international standards, will help the Ministry of Public Education in its efforts to modernize the country’s education system.
“High quality education is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. When children learn and succeed, they grow into adults who transform their own lives and their country, ” U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Daniel Rosenblum said. He added: “The United States commends the Ministry of Public Education and its commitment to an ambitious program of systematic and comprehensive reforms in the general secondary education sub-sector.”
“We are grateful to the people of the United States, its government and USAID for continuous support and assistance in many aspects of our education transformation efforts,” Minister of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sherzod Shematov said. “As you are well aware, during the last few years, with the guidance of our President, our government was able to achieve substantial development in the field of education. Since we live in a fast-paced world with rapidly changing technologies, we have concentrated our attention on mass educating our children in English language and IT skills. With the assistance of our partners, I am sure we will give our children opportunities to strive in the modern world and reach their fullest potential.”
The Ministry of Public Education is committed to an ambitious program of systematic and comprehensive reform of the general secondary education system. The Ministry is working to create an education system that can produce graduates with the critical thinking, problem solving, and practical skills that will enable them to succeed in school and after graduation.
To support the Ministry in achieving its reform agenda, USAID signed a landmark Development Objective Grant Agreement (DOAG) in September 2019. The five-year DOAG is the first comprehensive bilateral development grant agreement between the U.S. Government and the Government of Uzbekistan.
To date, $19.5 million has been allocated to the DOAG. Today the USAID Uzbekistan Mission Director Mikaela Meredith and the Minister of Public Education Sherzod Shermatov signed an amendment to the DOAG for an additional $5.5 million. These funds will be used to enhance the entreneurship and work readiness skills of youth before they enter the workforce.
