Thousands of parents held accountable for students' absence from classes in Uzbekistan

As a result of the initial investigation carried out on February 6-8 this year in collaboration with the Ministry of Pre-School and School Education and the National Guard, it was discovered that 188,000 students were absent from classes without valid reasons. This information was disclosed by the head of the National Guard's information service, Davron Jumanazarov, during a briefing at the Agency for Information and Mass Communications (AIMC).

The new system being implemented in schools, involving inspector-psychologists and neighborhood councils, is proving to be effective. In targeted activities across the regions, of the 146,277 students who were absent from school, 96,708 (1.5%) were ill or had excused absences, while 49,569 (0.8%) were absent without valid reasons.

Additionally, cases of students missing classes under the guise of illness are being investigated. Last week in the Kashkadarya region, when the homes of students reported as ill were visited, it was found in 50 cases that the students were not actually sick but had missed classes without valid reasons. All these students were returned to school, and their parents faced administrative responsibility.

Some 124,000 parents who failed to fulfill their educational and upbringing responsibilities were officially warned, and nearly four thousand faced administrative measures under Article 47 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility.

More than 104,000 parents of students who had been skipping classes without cause were met with local meetings to return the students to school.

As a result of the activities carried out under the new system from February 6 to March 7 of this year, 1.769 million students were returned to schools. Currently, the nationwide school attendance rate has reached 97.7 percent. In the last week alone, six instances of unauthorized individuals attempting to enter schools were prevented across the republic.

Legal measures, both criminal and administrative, have been ensured against those found responsible in all cases.