Photo: Gazeta.uz
The Uzbek authorities have decided to introduce a 12-year secondary education system, Deputy Minister of Preschool and School Education Sardor Rajabov announced on the Uzbekistan 24 TV channel, Gazeta.uz reported.
According to Rajabov, the transition will be gradual and achieved by integrating preparatory classes — which already cover almost 100 percent of children — into the school system. The goal of the reform is to align the national education system with international standards.
“The task has been set to incorporate this stage into the school system and move to 12 years of education,” Rajabov said.
He emphasized that the reform would improve the quality of graduates’ training and remove barriers for students applying to foreign universities.
“Today, when applying to universities abroad, our graduates are forced to take yearlong foundation courses, which leads to the loss of a year. If we implement the 12-year system in legislation, our graduates in several countries will no longer need foundation courses, and they will have the opportunity to directly enter undergraduate programs,” Rajabov noted.
According to Gazeta.uz, a corresponding presidential decree is already prepared. Its explanatory note states that the 11-year model does not meet international educational standards. Each year, around 15,000 Uzbek graduates studying abroad must take additional foundation courses. A comparative analysis showed that in 85 percent of countries ranked highest in the PISA-2022 study, schooling lasts 12 years.
Under the reform, the preparatory stage for six-year-old children, already in place today, will become part of primary education. New classes will be created in 3,666 schools and 1,013 state preschool institutions. Teacher training programs at universities will also be updated to reflect the new structure.
The reform requires amendments to the laws “On Education” and “On Preschool Education and Upbringing.” The new structure of schooling will look as follows:
· one year of preparatory stage,
· four years of primary school,
· five years of basic general secondary education (grades 5–9),
· two years of general secondary education, which may be completed at schools, lyceums, military academies, or vocational colleges.
The 12-year system is expected to bring Uzbekistan’s education into line with UNESCO’s international levels (ISCED-2011).
Until 2009, Uzbekistan had an 11-year school system. It was then replaced by a 12-year model under the 9+3 formula, where the final three years were spent at colleges and lyceums. However, in 2018, the government abandoned this system, returning to 11 years of schooling after acknowledging the previous reform as ineffective.
