The press secretary of the President of Uzbekistan, Sherzod Asadov, explained the details of the upcoming major reform in the education sector. According to the decree of the head of state, two separate departments—the Ministry of Preschool and School Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation—will be merged into a single Ministry of Education and Science.
The main concept of this merger includes several key areas. The new Ministry of Education and Science will oversee all preschool institutions, schools, vocational training organizations, and higher educational institutions. It will be responsible for the operational activities of these structures, as well as for establishing standards for educational work, licensing, and accreditation.
Furthermore, the National Agency for Ensuring Quality of Education will function as a research platform. Its task is to create textbooks, programs, and methodological materials, integrate them into practice, monitor the results obtained, and improve them based on identified shortcomings. Sherzod Asadov emphasized that the guiding principle for this work will be the 'portrait of the graduate of Uzbek school,' approved by the president.
The structure of the new ministry and the optimization of work processes will be developed by the presidential administration together with a special working group headed by entrepreneur Zafar Khashimov. This group will also determine the overall strategy for conducting reforms.
Regarding higher education, there are plans to significantly reduce state involvement while increasing the autonomy of universities and stimulating the development of the private sector. The presidential press secretary noted that the quality of education in universities should be determined by free competition and market demand.