Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 27 November  - 5 December  2019, a series of meetings of representatives of the Ministry of Preschool Education of Uzbekistan and the Korean Agency for International Cooperation (KOICA) took place. The parties plan to implement a major joint project to improve the quality of early development of children in Uzbekistan.

During the meetings, the Minister of Preschool Education, Agrippina Shin, and the Director of the KOICA Representative Office in Uzbekistan, Mr. Sung Il Son, reached a preliminary agreement on the opening of a Center for Retraining and Training of Personnel and the construction of a state-run early childhood care institution for 420 people.

The center will work with teachers and methodologists of preschool organizations. The Korean program provides not only classes with children, but also interaction with parents. In addition to conducting trainings and courses, the Center for Retraining and Education will be engaged in the development of manuals and training materials. Today, approximately 90 thousand teachers work in the system of preschool education.

“The training system for preschool organizations requires transformation. We all want highly qualified specialists to be near our children who can find an approach to each child and reveal their potential. But there are only a few strong teachers and methodologists in the labor market, and there are thousands of VET in the country. The center for retraining and training, built and equipped with Korean technology with the involvement of Korean experts, will allow Uzbekistan to make a quantum leap forward in training personnel. Workers in the field of preschool education will receive high-quality, advanced knowledge that will bring their work with children to a new level. The construction of a preschool education by our partner KOICA is an additional kind gesture, which we greatly appreciate, ”said Agrippina Shin, Minister of Preschool Education of Uzbekistan.

Also within the framework of the project, a Testing and Research Center will be created, where children and parents will be able to obtain the necessary knowledge and skills. The prototype will be the Center for Early Childhood Development in Seoul. The building will be divided into 5 developing zones:

-Health zone for physical education;

- Zone of society and emotions for the development of emotional intelligence;

-Communication zone for interactive games and communication;

-Cognition zone for games with mathematical and logical bias;

-Area of architecture for the development of motor skills and creative thinking.

The implementation period of the joint project will be 6 years (2021-2026). According to preliminary estimates, its cost will be US$11 million. Funding will be provided by the Korean side. If the project receives approval at the headquarters of KOICA in the Republic of Korea, an additional mission of the organization will arrive in Uzbekistan.