Parliamentary Commission’s meeting for monitoring the implementation of national goals and objectives in sustainable development

October 8, 2021

Image: UNDP Uzbekistan

October 8, 2021, TASHKENT — A meeting of the Parliamentary Commission for monitoring the implementation of national goals and objectives in the field of sustainable development of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the period up to 2030 was held in Tashkent.

The event was opened by the Chairperson of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, Co-Chairperson of the Parliamentary Commission Tanzila Narbaeva.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP in Uzbekistan Doina Munteanu, UNFPA Representative in Uzbekistan Yu Yu, UNESCO Representative in Uzbekistan Alexandros Makarigakis, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Uzbekistan Geoffrey Ijumba, members of the Coordination Council for Implementation National goals and targets for sustainable development for the period up to 2030.

— It is indeed commendable to see the government’s commitment for sustainable development and integrating the SDGs so strongly and deeply into the national planning documents and to the concepts for comprehensive socio-economic development, poverty reduction strategies and financing instruments. The commitment of the Parliamentary Commission on the national SDGs and the overside monitoring that ensure the implementation of the national SDGs is indeed long-term commitment of the government of Uzbekistan for this important topic. Noting the topic on SDG 4 and the importance of education, I would like to highlight that investments in human capital have also picked up, including the increase of private and public investment into education and healthcare, — Doina Munteanu, Deputy Representative of the UNDP in Uzbekistan, mentioned in her speech.

During the meeting, deputy ministers of preschool education, public education, higher education reported the results of the study in the Samarkand region about the current conditions in the preschool, public and higher education system to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all (Goal 4).

It was noted that in the Samarkand region there are 2,812 preschool educational organizations. In the region, 25429 out of 85559 children aged 6 years are covered by free annual groups.

314 out of 697 state preschool educational organizations functioning in the region (45%) are fully provided with drinking water. In 214 state preschool educational institutions (31%) drinking water is supplied through an artesian pipeline, in 161 (23%) hygienic drinking water is stored in containers of 1-2 tons, and in 8 (1%) drinking water is brought.

As part of the Investment Program for 2021, a total of 795 schools are under construction, reconstruction, and overhaul.

It was noted that the state of the quality of education in schools of the region and the level of mastery by students remain low. The conditions of equipping the classrooms of natural sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) with educational and laboratory equipment, textbooks do not meet the requirements, and corruption cases are also encountered.

The meeting participants also analyzed the situation in the higher education system. It was noted that 11 higher educational institutions function in the region - 7 state, 3 branches of state educational institutions and 1 foreign university.

In the region, the level of enrollment in higher education of school graduates has increased: this year 11,219 out of 50,589 graduates (22.2%) entered educational institutions, which is 12.2% more than the last year.

The scientific potential of higher educational institutions is 33.5%, 246 departments and 46 faculties employ 3,272 faculty members. There are 219 (6.6%) Doctor of Sciences (DcS) and professors, 877 (26.8%) candidates of sciences and 2,176 (66.5%) teachers without an academic title.

At the same time, it was noted that today several urgent problems and shortcomings remain in the higher education system that need to be addressed. In particular, the mechanism for admitting teachers to higher educational institutions and the activities of the boards of trustees of higher educational institutions have not been sufficiently developed. The work on the scientific orientation of graduates of the magistracy is at an unsatisfactory level and does not meet modern requirements.

At the end of the event, the participants expressed their opinions and proposals to address the issues raised in the meeting.