Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Schools in Uzbekistan will receive 1350 sets of computer classrooms and interactive whiteboards by the end of October. This was announced by the Minister of Preschool and School Education, E'zozkhon Karimova, at a meeting of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis. Initially, it was planned to create 1000 computer classrooms and install 6300 interactive whiteboards by the end of 2026.
250 billion soums have been allocated from the state budget for equipping computer classrooms, and another 100 billion soums have been directed towards purchasing interactive whiteboards. However, deputies noted that the first half-year report did not indicate any created classrooms or installed whiteboards – by that time, the ministry had only managed to conduct tender procedures. After expert review, it was decided to increase the number of computer sets from 1000 to 1350, while maintaining the previous budget.
Difficulties also arose with the purchase of interactive whiteboards. The first tender, announced on July 12, failed to determine a winner, so on August 10, the ministry launched a repeat tender. Authorities expect to purchase and deliver all equipment to schools by the end of October after its completion. The need for a large-scale infrastructure update is due to the fact that as of May 1, Wi-Fi was absent in 69% of the country's schools, about 5000 computer classrooms were outdated, and approximately 2000 schools did not have such classrooms at all.