ADB helps to reform education sector

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a further $30 million loan to help reform the education sector of Central Asia's most populous state, bringing the total of its loan projects for education to more than $230 million since 1997. Uzbek schools and colleges have been experiencing difficulties since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 with shortages of textbooks, a lack of teaching equipment and the resignation of teachers due to poor salaries, critics say. The government has been reforming the higher education system for several years and this year adopted another five-year plan to reform state schools. "Reforming the education sector is essential to Uzbekistan's transition to a market economy," Sean O'Sullivan, ADB country director, told IRIN in the capital Tashkent. "Curriculum reform, teacher training and the development of new textbooks are key elements in shifting the education system from rote learning to a more student-centred approach," he added. ADB has been working closely with the Uzbek government to address the needs of the education sector since 1996, mainly focusing on developing a comprehensive policy framework, and implementing necessary policy reforms and actions to support these reforms. Developing textbooks and teaching-learning materials for basic (primary and secondary) education and strengthening senior secondary education have also been targeted. According to the ADB official, the organisation is working in close partnership with the Ministries of Public Education, Higher and Senior Secondary Education, and the central and local governments, but it is also collaborating with schools, teachers, students and local communities. "Significant progress has been made in modernising educational structures, processes and content, improving efficiency, reforming governance, and ensuring access for poor and vulnerable groups" he said. In 1997, ADB allocated $40 million to implement two basic education textbook development projects which have supported the development of a new generation of learner-friendly textbooks. The projects also helped to ensure that all children, including those from poor families in rural areas, have access to quality textbooks and stimulated the emergence of private textbook publishers, the official noted. "The projects have received strong government support, and the ADB considers that they have so far been successful in achieving agreed objectives," O'Sullivan underlined. The government news agency UzA reported last week that 500 public schools and five teacher training colleges have been equipped under a separate $38.5 million ADB loan approved in 2002. This project is also introducing new training methods on the basis of distance learning at 14 regional teachers' training centres designed to train 2,700 teachers around the country, the report said. The ADB is also planning to allocate a further $40 million in 2005 and 2006 to finance the construction and equipping of schools, and the introduction of a new pay system for teachers, the Uzbek government announced last week. "In the ADB's view, the government of Uzbekistan is undertaking necessary reforms in the education sector and has adopted a reform agenda that is in line with the needs of a transitional economy," the ADB country director said. "We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with the Government of Uzbekistan in this important sector," he added. The ADB is the largest investor among international financial institutions operating in Uzbekistan with a total $1.3 billion loan portfolio in key sectors of the country's economy, social structure, transport and communications.