Daryo on Friday visited Astrum IT academy in Yangibazar town in the Tashkent region, the republic’s first programming academy to learn more about a new five-year $10mn Uzbekistan Youth Employment Skills activity that has been recently launched by the USAID jointly with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Public Education. The program is aimed at increasing the workforce readiness of youth in grades 8-11 and will include school-based and after-school programs with a particular focus on young women and youth with disabilities. Speaking during the press tour, the U.S. Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires Paul Poletes stated that the initiative would empower youth to take charge of their career paths and equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully contribute to Uzbekistan’s social and economic development as only 7% of people with disabilities in Uzbekistan have joined the workforce. Measures are taken to ensure that people with disabilities study in a barrier-free environment.
‘So what it requires is just a new understanding of ways to provide access to learning materials and to provide opportunities, that and understand that people with disabilities can contribute to the workforce, that they can do outstanding work, we just have to give them different opportunities or pathways for them to get a full education and then join the workforce.’ – Paul Poletes said. He added that taking into account the infrastructure issues, this should be considered an important investment for the future as many people with disabilities are sitting on the sidelines, they're not able to contribute, and they're not able to learn most effectively. ‘And so I think spending that money is investing in the future of those people and the country so it's well worth the money.’
At the launch event, two young entrepreneurs Dilmurad Yusupov and Malika Sharipova shared their personal experiences overcoming obstacles and the YES activity’s potential to help Uzbekistan’s youth succeed in the labor market and grow the economy as entrepreneurs. Malika Sharipova noted that much has to be done to prepare girls for life and ensure women’s participation in the economy so females would not need to tolerate abusive behavior in their families. While Dilmurad Yusupov presented the ‘ishplus.uz’ inclusive portal for job seekers. According to him, the platform was created in January 2021 to help people with disabilities get employed or take courses in desired specialties. ‘So far the portal has registered over 500 young applicants from 18 to 30 years of age. Any organization, regardless of the form of ownership, that employs about 30 people must provide a quota workplace for people with disabilities. That is, if there are 100 people in the organization, then three places must be assigned quotas for them. And we take these lists from labor exchanges, and according to these lists, we call employers so that they give us full information about vacancies. That is, we are doing public control of the three percent quota. Unfortunately, most jobs we are given are low-profile and low-paid. Recently there was a vacancy ‘cemetery caretaker’ for a person with a physical disability. It is not right. Many persons with disabilities graduate from higher education institutions.’
The USAID Mission Director in Uzbekistan Mikaela Meredith stressed that in the next 20 years, the youth in Uzbekistan will be the largest workforce ever in the history of the republic. ‘His Excellency, President Mirziyoyev has prioritized workforce development and promoting the education sector. And the US government shares this vision. We are working together to reform the education sector. Today's launch of a five-year $10 million program, the YES program, is in line with the President's vision. And specifically, it's going to give important skills to youth in grades eight and 11 to make them more competitive, or to start their jobs. It has a special focus on people with disabilities, we've included them from the start of the process. So we're taking our cues from them, making sure that they're integrated into this program, because we understand that they are underprivileged in the society, and yet they bring a very critical skill and a resource to Uzbekistan’s economy. Another important aspect of this program is dealing with the private sector. We recognize that it's very important to have that conversation with the private sector so that the private sector can weigh in on the types of skills that the people benefiting from this program will have. The YES activity has a special focus on empowering girls and youth with disabilities. We know that females and youth with disabilities are severely underrepresented in employment and therefore remain an underserved and untapped resource for Uzbekistan.’
According to Deputy Minister of Public Education Rustam Karimjonov, in September 2019, USAID and the Ministry of Public Education signed a $50mn grant project to support the development of Uzbekistan’s education system. The new $10mn grant project will last for 5 years – within this period it is planned to train young people for the professions and adapt them to the needs of the times by improving the efficacy of textbooks on technology, economics, and entrepreneurship. Besides, it is planned to train the teachers so they could help girls acquire the skills necessary to join the workforce. A special electronic platform will be created to test children’s knowledge and talents as well as to monitor children’s psychology.
‘And in the 9th grade, just like it is in practice in Germany and Korea, parents are given recommendations by the school management so they could better understand what their child is particularly talented at; engineering, biology, or any other area. Or let's say that your child is more interested in drawing, and the whole world recommends that he should go in the direction of drawing or art. And we will come to this direction in Uzbekistan, God willing, within the framework of this project and I believe that together with these partners, we will successfully implement this project’ – Rustam Karimjonov said to the Daryo News Agency.
The speakers noted that the USAID will develop and improve entrepreneurship and economics curricula and teaching practices by prioritizing practical, hands-on learning. The activity will include regular collaboration with the private sector to ensure that the knowledge and skills youth will acquire are relevant to Uzbekistan’s labor market.
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