Preschool education
Learn what we do for preschool education
Participation rate in organized learning for pre-primary, one year before the official primary entry shows an impressive rate at 72%, with low regional and gender disparities. This demonstrates strong government commitment in ensuring compulsory free pre-primary education supported by the recent Law on Preschool Education and Upbringing (2019). However, more work building on the exemplary commitment from government is required to boost attendance rate of early childhood learning before five years.
According to the MICS (2022) data 46% of children aged 36-59 months are attending early childhood education.
There are still equity issues related to disparities in attendance in ECE (3-4 years old) by
- Gender (51% male and 41% female)
- Urban 51% and rural 42%
- Wealth quintile of households: 55% richest and 29% poorest
Reforming Preschool Education – National Law and Policies
UNICEF contributed to Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Preschool Education, which was approved by the Senate on December 14, 2019.
Key results:
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Government’s commitment to SDG 4.2 (one-year pre-primary education)
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Recognition, regulation and collaboration of private provision in preschools
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First ever successful PPP in Uzbekistan social sector; enhanced access and enrolments in preschools
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International Financial Institutions (World Bank & IsDB) investing in PPP model preschools.
Alternative & Innovative models of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
Key results:
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MOPSE is expanding the alternative models through mobile buses (65 IZUZU preschools) covering 6200 children.
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MOPSE is scaling up the alternative models in 40 play groups covering a total of 600 children in Samarkhand and Namangan region under the World Bank & GPE funded Early Childhood Education project (2019 – 2024).
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With funding and support of the European Union, UNICEF is expanding alternative models of preschools to provide multi- Program lingual, inclusive education in at least 10 sites in Surkhandarya region during 2022-2023.
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Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) will help MOPSE to scale up the alternative preschools in 50 more places during 2023-2026.
From 2018 to date, UNICEF has invested nearly US $ 2 million to support the Government in preschool education.
This investment resulted in adoption of new laws, national policies and plans, data collection and quality assurance mechanisms. UNICEF further supported the quality of pre- school education by reviewing the preschool curriculum, Early Learning Development standards, and teacher training. Service delivery has been expanded through the introduction of alternative models, further introducing digital solutions targeting children, parents and teachers.
With such support, the government has been able to provide quality preschool education to almost 2 million children in the age group of 3-6 years by early 2022.