Every two years, some teachers receive more than $40,000.

At a meeting chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the occasion of "Teachers' and Mentors' Day" in 2024, it was announced that the "Teacher of the Year" competition would now be held, and teachers who won from 208 districts and cities would receive housing as a Presidential gift.

In order to ensure the implementation of this instruction of the President, a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On measures to organize and conduct competitions "Teacher of the Year" and "Leader of Professional Skills" among employees of the general secondary education system" was signed.

This was announced by the Minister of Preschool and School Education, Hilola Umarova. According to the decree, the "Teacher of the Year" competition will be held every two years, starting from 2026.

Candidates for the "Teacher of the Year" competition will take part in one subject taught by them, and primary school teachers will take part in the direction of primary education. Participants will register through the ministry's special platform.

The competition will be held in three stages:

at the first stage - the candidates' theoretical knowledge of the subject of their specialty, pedagogical skills, and professional standards are assessed;

at the second stage, the pedagogical skills of the candidates are assessed by a panel of judges and teachers based on evaluation criteria. In this case, a video recording of the candidate's lesson will be posted on a special platform for evaluation;

at the third stage - the spiritual and educational activities and reading skills of the candidates are assessed.

Based on the results of the competition, once every two years in October, the register of each candidate recognized as the winner is awarded a certificate with a QR code, which is maintained by the Ministry and posted on the official website of the Ministry.

Based on this certificate, the winners will be awarded a cash prize equal to 1,400 times the basic calculated value (525 million, currently $40,500) through the redistribution of additional funds allocated to the fund of the Minister of Preschool and School Education.

Teachers are given money, not housing, and these funds are paid not by local authorities, but by the ministry.

In fact, according to the draft document, teachers who won the "Teacher of the Year" competition from 208 districts and cities were provided with a 3-room apartment in the district (city) or regional center.

However, in order to prevent force majeure situations that are likely to occur later, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education found it necessary to allocate sufficient funds for the winning teachers to buy housing, not a house.

This decision of the Ministry, at first glance, seems like a change in the initial plan, but in reality, it has positive aspects. The reason is that giving money to winning teachers instead of allocating housing prevents problems that may arise due to force majeure, creates an opportunity for each teacher to choose their place of residence at their own discretion and ensures freedom of choice in the housing market, and also allows teachers to direct these funds not for housing, but for other needs.

That is, teachers who receive these funds will be able to spend them on buying a house if they want, a car if they want, or other needs if they want.

As a reminder, three years ago, the Teachers' Association, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Education, held a "Teacher-2021" competition, fundamentally different from the "Best Subject Teacher of the Year" competition.

Eight winners of the competition were awarded a cash prize of 30 million soums, certificates, and other valuable prizes, as well as a ticket to the "Global Teacher Prize 2022" competition in Dubai. However, for certain reasons, the winners were not sent to Dubai.

Later, these winners were sent to Turkey to participate in the international conference to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 22-24, 2024, by the relevant order of Minister Hilola Umarova.