2026 – THE YEAR OF TEACHING YOUTH MODERN SKILLS: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS FOR TRANSFORMING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

In December 2025, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared 2026 the Year of Training Young People in Modern Professions, signalling a strategic reorientation of Uzbekistan’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system. This article presents a systematic policy and literature review analysing the structural challenges confronting TVET across all subject domains. Drawing on 38 sources—including official presidential decrees, reports from UNESCO, the World Bank, ETF, ETH Zurich/Helvetas, and GIZ (2021–2025), peer-reviewed studies, and institutional survey data—the review identifies six interconnected systemic barriers: persistent skills misalignment with labour-market needs (with employer satisfaction rates of 21–32%), insufficient practical training infrastructure, low social prestige of vocational pathways (TVET enrolment declining from over one million students to approximately 400,000 following the 2017 reform), pronounced regional disparities, teacher and master trainer deficits, and limited lifelong learning pathways. The analysis situates these challenges within the broader international literature on TVET transfer and reform in low- and middle-income countries, drawing on comparative evidence from the German dual system, Swiss apprenticeship models, and South Korean TVET policy. Recent reforms—the establishment of the Agency for Professional Education, expansion of dual education from 13,000 to a targeted 50,000 students, and international partnerships—are evaluated against this evidence base. The article proposes a six-pillar framework of evidence-based recommendations, with explicit attention to implementation barriers, resource requirements, and monitoring mechanisms. It argues that 2026 must serve not as a symbolic year but as a genuine inflection point for structural transformation, and identifies five priority areas for future empirical research.