Asian development bank

Table 9: Enrollment in Secondary General and Secondary Special Education, 2016–2017 Academic year

(%)

Item	Women	Men
Ratio of girls and boys in the total number of students in secondary general education	48.4	51.6
Ratio of females and males in total number of students in secondary special education (vocational colleges)	49	51
Ratio of females and males in total number of students in secondary special education (academic lyceums)	44.1	55.9

Source: data provided by the State Committee on Statistics to adB in September–October 2017 for this CGa update.

4. Preschool Education

Compared with 2013, the number of 3- to 6-year-old children in pres chool increased to 23.8%. the gender balance among preschoolers is close to parity: 47.3% girls and 52.7% boys.²¹⁷ In kindergarten, the number of children aged 1–6 years has not been consistent.²¹⁸ In 1991, the enrollment ratio exceeded 35%, but it was significantly skewed in urban vs. rural areas (51.3% and 27%, respectively).

By 2000, the pres chool enrollment ratio had dropped by half, to 18.2% nationwide (35.3% vs. 10.6% in urban and rural areas respectively). the drastic imbalance between urban and rural coverage was due to the less-developed network of kindergartens in the villages and wider family kinship ties that allow keeping a child at home under the supervision of elderly family members or a senior sibling, usually a girl. this may have further implications on girls’ opportunities to develop their full potential, achievements in primary schooling, and education in general.

²¹⁶ UN development program and Center for economic Research under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 2015. The National Report on Millennium Development Goals. Uzbekistan 2015. MDG 3. Promotion of Equality of Men and Women and Empowerment of Women. http://www.cer.uz/upload/iblock/ad0/mdg_ru_13_04.pdf
²¹⁷ the State Committee on Statistics of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan Gender Statistics. Education. Enrollment in Pre-school Education. www.gender.stat.uz (accessed 16 January 2018).
²¹⁸ “the reasons for the decline in Uzbekistan’s coverage are multifaceted. the decline in the 1990s probably started because of the decline of employment opportunities for women, particularly in the rural areas, and the availability of home-based care in larger extended rural families. High parental fees relative to household income, perceived falling standards of care and education and the closure of many small local schools reducing access to the pre-school network, have all been contributing factors. a move to a per capita system of funding recurrent costs between 2008 and 2010, combined with a network optimization programme, resulted in closures of schools with low attendance thereby raising the average numbers of children per school through consolidation.” United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICeF).
Uzbekistan. 2013. Review of the State Policy of Financing of Early Childhood Education. tashkent. Uzbekistan.
Mainstreaming Gender in ADB Operations, by Sector 69
Government pres-chool education is fee-based.²¹⁹ However, the cost of full-day government pres-chool facilities decreased in 2017, and the cost was indexed according to urban, rural, and regional specificities. this will produce further positive implications on children’s access to early learning opportunities. the latest reforms established alternative pres-chool facilities, increased free school readiness groups under secondary general schools, and raised awareness of the value of early learning.

5.