Uzbekistan has a solid basic education system, reaching 99% of school-age children. However, there are still major challenges to improve the quality of the education to meet international standards. To achieve this, the Government of Uzbekistan has launched a major program to upgrade the education system by 2009. Part of that initiative is to remove disparities between schools in rural areas and those in towns and cities.

About 80% of Uzbekistan’s 9,773 schools are in rural and remote areas. Many of them lack resources. Major needs include the rehabilitation of school facilities which is being taken care by the Government under the National Program for Basic Education Development, equipment for science laboratories, the update of teaching techniques and the improvement of community participation in school life.

The Government is committed to increase opportunities in rural areas by enhancing school facilities and has asked ADB for support by expanding its ongoing assistance to the country, which includes updating the curriculum, textbook development and promoting information and communication technology in education.

"ADB has a comprehensive program to support the Government of Uzbekistan in the challenging effort of improving the education system. A major issue is improving opportunities for students in rural and remote areas, where fewer funds are available. If we can do this, it will have a big impact on poverty levels," said Ms Manuela Prina, a social sector specialist at ADB. "We will provide better opportunities not only for students to stay in school and proceed to higher education and therefore find better jobs, but also for rural communities, which will benefit from modern schools and upgraded facilities."

As part of the new project, rural schools upgraded under the Government’s program will be equipped with laboratories and provided with teaching and learning materials, teacher training institutions and district education departments will be strengthened and community participation in school life increased.

"Although training programs for teachers have been gradually revised, the current in-service training system needs to become more flexible to adjust to specific subject-related requirements of teachers in rural schools, who work in difficult circumstances."

"Many teachers still apply traditional teaching methods, devoting attention generally to narrow subject knowledge, requiring students to memorize and repeat notions and definitions," Ms Prina said. "Critical thinking, problem solving, communication skills and teamwork do not receive sufficient attention."

About 670,000 students and 63,000 teachers will benefit in the three project regions (oblasts) – Tashkent oblast, Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya. The latter two were chosen because they are among the poorest regions in the country, while Tashkent oblast was picked because of the high disparity between the urban and rural areas. The project has been designed to be completed by the end of 2011.