The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will grant a US$ 30 million loan to improve education in rural areas of Uzbekistan. ADB is providing grant for laboratories equipment and other teaching and learning materials.
In Uzbekistan, 99 percent children are school going children. However, there are still major challenges to improve the quality of the education to meet international standards. The Government of Uzbekistan has launched a major programme in order to upgrade the education system by 2009. About 80 percent of Uzbekistan's 9,773 schools are in rural and remote areas. Under the new project, rural schools would be upgraded under the Government's program. These schools would be equipped with laboratories and provided with teaching and learning materials. More than 6,70,000 students and 63,000 teachers will benefit in the three project regions including Tashkent oblast, Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya.