Is Hilola Umarova's "Appeal to the Minister" portal working?

In March 2023, at the initiative of the Minister of Preschool and School Education, Hilola Umarova, the "Appeal to the Minister" portal was launched.

It was noted that through the minister.uzedu.uz portal, launched at the initiative of Hilola Umarova, teachers can send proposals for improving the quality of education, substantiated facts, initiatives, projects, as well as opinions and comments on corruption cases.

Also, in parallel with the portal, @uzedu_vazirbot was launched, through which interaction with teachers was also established.

Later, Hilola Umarova reported that "I personally and our team are reading all the proposals received by the bot."

When the "Appeal to the Minister" portal was first launched, Minister Umarova promised that this portal would be under her personal control, studied by specialists of the ministry, on the basis of which problems would be solved and new projects would be implemented.

We assumed that such portals would initially work very well, but later no one would hear them. However, we expressed confidence that such shortcomings would not be observed on this ministry platform.

Has the portal been suspended?

According to some educators, the "Appeal to the Minister" portal is currently questioning its effectiveness.

Because recently, teachers are seeking solutions to the accumulated problems in the school education system not from the Ministry of Preschool and School Education, but from the mass media.

For example, it was reported that almost 60 percent of teachers who participated in the certification tests for pedagogical workers this year failed the test.

Although it was noted that the test materials used in the certification were developed based on international testology standards with the participation of specialists in the field, scientists, and practicing teachers, the validity of these tests was not fully informed to the general public, and the complaints of dissatisfied teachers were not heard.

The fact that for teachers who did not participate in the spring attestation for valid reasons, it was decided to hold them in October-November without organizing an extraordinary test, which limited the capabilities of many teachers. Therefore, there is a mood of dissatisfaction among teachers in this regard as well.

In addition, the editorial office of xalqtaliminfo.uz receives numerous appeals regarding the repair of educational institutions in connection with the end of the academic year, as well as the violation of the labor rights of many teachers following the organization of "Urgent 90 Days" events.

Despite the fact that there are a number of problematic situations in the school education system that cause many objections, the ministry did not provide full official information on this matter, and an open and expanded press conference on current issues, innovations, and future plans in the education system was not organized.

For example, when the "Appeal to the Minister" portal first began operating, it regularly provided weekly information on the most pressing topics received on the portal.

However, although more than a year has passed, the Information Service of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education has not provided any official information on the appeals received on the portal.

We also tried to send our appeal to study the activities of the "Reference to the Minister" portal, but we decided to send our appeal through @uzedu_vazirbot due to a technical problem with the "Submit" button.

Despite sending this appeal on May 29 of this year, we also did not receive a response from the bot. Therefore, it can be assumed that the "Appeal to the Minister" portal has been suspended.

As can be seen from the above analysis, although the "Appeal to the Minister" portal initially began its activity at a high level, over time the activity of this portal seems to have significantly decreased or stopped completely. The practice of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education systematically reviewing appeals and providing official information on them has also slowed down.

Existing problems of teachers, including complaints in the certification process, problems related to labor rights, and other pressing issues are increasingly being resolved through the media, which raises some questions about the openness and transparency of the system.

Therefore, the "Appeal to the Minister" portal is currently in doubt whether it is fully performing its functions or is functioning at all. This shows that the ministry faces a serious task in terms of the openness of the system and the establishment of effective dialogue with teachers.

We believe the Ministry of Preschool and School Education will provide an official response to the situation.