According to the Ministry of Public Education of Uzbekistan, currently 416,188 teachers work in the public education system.

The ministry said that average salary of pedagogic workers grew by 11.1 times compared to 1 January 2004. As of 1 August 2012, the size of salary makes up 706,928 soums, the ministry said.

In the first half of 2012, some 189,599 teachers (45.6% of total teachers) received rise in wages from Director Fund.

In new academic year 2012-2013, some 4.5 million students are studying at 9,763 general schools. Some 500,000 children go to first classes this year.

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, in his message to teachers of Uzbekistan, said that the country spends 10-12% of GDP to development and reforms of education sector, while the figure did not exceed 2-5% in many countries.

Uzbek leader said that currently only well-educated and intellectually developed youth with highly demanded professions can ensure great future of the country.

He said that Uzbekistan has been conducting wide-scale work on this direction in last 15 years within national programmes in education sphere. Annually, over 35% of state budget expenses are directed to development of education sector. He said that the salaries of teachers rose 1.5 times in last ten years.

President Islam Karimov said that Uzbekistan constructed and reconstructed 9,763 general schools, over 300 musical and art schools, 143 academic lyceums, 1,406 professional colleges and 59 universities.