Nowadays, the results of large-scale reforms implemented in Uzbekistan to end forced labor are recognized not only by the population, but also by the whole world. The practice of sending schoolchildren, students and teachers of all types of educational institutions to cotton cultivation and harvest has been stopped.

In recent years, a number of legal documents have been adopted and amended in order to effectively organize the activities of pedagogues and create suitable conditions for their work. At the same time, in the newly revised Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the teacher's work is defined as the basis of development of society and the state, formation and upbringing of a healthy, mature generation, preservation and enrichment of the nation's spiritual and cultural potential. The state has undertaken the protection of the honor and dignity of teachers, their social and material well-being, and their professional growth. However, we are witnessing that there are no reports of teachers being involved in forced labor in social networks.

In order to study the effectiveness of the reforms implemented in this area, and how they are reflected in the daily life of the owners of the field, based on an anonymous request, the Nationwide Movement "Yuksalish" studied cases where teachers were involved in forced labor in schools before the start of the new academic year, and had to pay for school repairs and other expenses at their own expense.

A total of 5,745 school teachers and coaches participated in the survey. 1,878 respondents were male (32.7%) and 3,867 were female (67.3%) pedagogues.

In the survey, the majority of participants (92.3%) stated that they were not called to work by school principals during the summer vacation period, indicating that the reforms implemented in this direction are effective. However, the fact that among the respondents there are those involved in forced labor during the vacation (7.7%) indicates to the need to strengthen control in this direction.

Did teachers invest their own funds in preparation for the new academic year?

Also, one of the major questions of the survey was "Did they have to spend their own funds during the preparation for the new academic year?". 4,987 (86.8%) of the respondents to this question stated that they did not have to spend additional money, 10.1% of them paid about 500,000 soums, and 3% stated that they had to spend more than 1 million soums.

There is a growing tendency of informal fundraising for school needs in Tashkent region (48%) and Tashkent city (45%).

In this regard, it was reported in separate interviews that in order to cover such expenses, teachers are required to equip and decorate classrooms at their own expense, to organize corners for playing with toys for the first grades, to replace the floor linoleum in the classroom, to which they invested more than 3 million soums of their personal funds.

Are teaching hours distributed fairly?

At the same time, the question of how fairly the teaching hours are distributed among teachers was also studied in an anonymous survey.

According to the results, 84.4% of the respondents said that the school administration distributes classes fairly. However, 15.6% of respondents said that the distribution of class hours would not be fair. It turned out that the objection to this is especially high in Tashkent (42%), Navoi (33%), Jizzakh (22%), Samarkand (19%) regions and Tashkent city (31%).

Are teachers involved in extracurricular activities?

With the beginning of the academic year, teaching staff embark on their duties. Timely delivery of lessons by teachers is an important factor in children's learning and acquiring knowledge. In extracurricular time, teachers are required to work on themselves and prepare for lessons with interesting materials. However, in some cases, we witness the cases where teachers are involved in meetings and events organized by local public authorities, which are not included in their functional duties. In addition, today, within the framework of "Initiative budget", which is a new practice in our country, they are forced to collect votes for the projects on strengthening the logistical capacity of schools and carrying out reconstruction works in them.

The opinion of the respondents was also studied on these issues. According to the survey, 78 percent of the respondents stated that they were not assigned with tasks other than their official duties. However, 15% of the participants said that the task of collecting votes for "Initiative Budget" initiatives is assigned by school principals, and about 7% said that they are involved in various events organized by local authorities.

In general, any form of forced labor is prohibited in our country, and not only pedagogues, but also holders of any profession are liable for forced labor.

It can be concluded from the results of the conducted public monitoring and survey that systemic reforms should be continued in order to restore the respect of schools teachers, to end their involvement in extra tasks that are not their responsibility, and to create suitable conditions for students to receive quality education. Most importantly, it is of urgent importance to systematically conduct public oversight in these processes.

Based on the results of the survey, the following suggestions and recommendations have been developed:

• To establish a unified monitoring system in cooperation with the Ministry of School and Pre-School Education, public organizations and labor inspectorates in order to prevent the involvement of teachers in forced labor;
• Develop a specialized electronic database that would transparently and fairly distribute the number of teaching hours for each teacher, thereby reducing the human factor in the distribution of teaching hours;
• Conduct anonymous surveys among teachers and parents on regular school fundraisings through the kundalik.com platform.

Press Service of the Nationwide Movement "Yuksalish".