On 19 January 2020, a video conference was held on the cardinal improvement of the system of spiritual and educational work, strengthening the interaction of state and public organizations in this process. The meeting was chaired by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
World historical experience shows that nations make progress thanks to spiritual cohesion, following their national idea. Today the issue of national ideology is very important in our country, which is moving towards building a new life and joining a number of developed states.
In recent years, a number of decisions have been made in this direction. It was determined that the President of the country is the chairman of the Republican Council for Spirituality and Enlightenment. The khokims are responsible for the territorial offices of the council. This further elevated the role of spiritual and educational issues in state policy.
“If the economy is an organism that ensures the vital activity of society, then spirituality is its heart and soul,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted at the meeting. – Since we have decided to build a new Uzbekistan, we rely on two strong pillars. The first is a strong economy based on market principles. The second is a strong spirituality based on the rich spiritual heritage of our ancestors and national values.
In the recent Address of the head of state to the Oliy Majlis, at the first Youth Forum of Uzbekistan and an expanded meeting of the Security Council, urgent tasks in the field of spirituality were identified, since it has accumulated many issues awaiting their solution. Some do not fully understand the essence of the national idea, treat it superficially, mistakenly identifying it with the old ideology. In this regard, the President named the main essence of the ideology of our country:
– The ideology of the new Uzbekistan we are creating will be kindness, humanity, humanism. When we talk about ideology, we mean, first of all, the education of reason, the education of national and universal values. They are based on millennial life ideas and values of our people, the head of state said.
As you know, today acute struggle and competition reign in the world, and the clash of interests is intensifying. The processes of globalization bring both unprecedented new opportunities and unforeseen problems for humanity. There are more and more threats and challenges to national identity and spiritual values. Egocentrism, a carefree attitude to work, family, and consumer culture are being introduced into the consciousness of people, especially young people.
Threats such as terrorism, extremism, transnational and cybercrime, human trafficking and drug trafficking are on the rise. In some regions, artificial instability and protest moods are observed.
In such an alarming situation, it is necessary to exercise caution and vigilance, to live with the peace and interests of our country in mind.
The head of state stressed that the biggest threat is indifference and indifference, in minimizing the social problems observed today, there is not enough participation of the older generation in education, and public control is insufficient.
It was noted at the meeting that the time itself requires a scientifically grounded analysis of the social and spiritual situation in society. It is the absence of such an approach to the organization of spiritual and educational work that does not allow achieving the expected results.
In this regard, the need for critical study and radical improvement of the work of the Republican Center for Spirituality and Enlightenment is indicated.
The President proposed to establish an Institute of Social and Spiritual Research on the basis of the Manaviyat Targibotchisi educational institution of this center.
Measures have been determined to bring spiritual and educational work to a qualitatively and substantively new level.
Today, dozens of organizations are engaged in the promotion of spirituality. Due to the lack of clear coordination of their activities, a unified system, there are cases of duplication of work.
It has been determined that from now on the Republican Center for Spirituality and Enlightenment will coordinate the spiritual and educational activities of all territorial councils, ministries, departments and organizations.
The material and technical support of the center and its organizations will be significantly increased. The research and propaganda work of the Center will be reorganized.
There is no break in education, they say among our people. However, the situation is different in spiritual and educational work today. Kindergartens, schools, higher education, makhalla – each link works in this direction separately.
In this regard, the importance of creating a unified system of spiritual and educational work was emphasized, in particular, the upbringing of boys and girls as educated and virtuous individuals from childhood, providing methodological assistance to preschool educational institutions for this purpose.
Instructions were given to improve the efficiency of spiritual and educational work in schools, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions. In all universities and their branches, the post of vice-rector for youth issues and spiritual and educational work will be introduced within the existing staffing units.
Particular attention is paid to ensuring the stability of the social and spiritual situation in the makhallas. It was reported that according to the principle “The representative of the intelligentsia is the spiritual patron of the makhalla,” professors, teachers and prominent representatives of the intelligentsia will be assigned to each makhalla. The initiative of representatives of the older generation to promote youth with difficult upbringing and unemployed young people was supported.
An instruction was given to build houses of spirituality and education in regional centers on the basis of a standard project, to allocate additional staff units to the sphere at the expense of local budgets.
A proposal has been made to turn the Victory Park complex in Tashkent into a scientific center for the study of military history and the heroism of our ancestors.
The importance of educating young people in the spirit of patriotism and national pride was emphasized. To do this, it is necessary to bring history teaching to a new level and expand scientific research in this area.
– It is necessary to teach national history in a national spirit. Otherwise, there will be no educational effect. We must teach our youth to learn lessons from history, draw conclusions, equip them with historical science, historical thinking, – said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The responsible persons have been tasked to develop a concept for the development of historical science in Uzbekistan until 2030.
It was instructed to strengthen the status of the Uzbek language as a state language, introduce modern technologies for its study in the country and abroad.
Today life demands to think and work in a new way, to form national “think tanks”. Unfortunately, there are few analysts and experts in the country who are capable of deeply researching and communicating in an understandable language all the socio-political processes taking place around us. In this regard, it is necessary to radically revise the scientific and applied research work in the field of protecting society from spiritual threats. It was emphasized that the centers of spirituality and enlightenment, “Development Strategy”, Islamic civilization, research institutes of social and humanitarian orientation should turn into such “think tanks”.
In order to promote the national idea, increase the efficiency of spiritual and educational work, and further develop literature and culture of reading in society, a Fund for the Support of Spirituality and Creativity will be created on the basis of the Ijod public foundation.
In this regard, 120 billion soums will be allocated, which will be spent on the effective implementation of spiritual and educational work, the development of national literature. Of this amount, 90 billion soums will be directed to the development of the spiritual and educational sphere in the regions, 20 billion soums – to support the activities of the Writers’ Union, 10 billion soums – to effectively organize spiritual and educational work on a national scale.
It was instructed to include the specialties of spirituality and enlightenment in the classifier of educational disciplines, to organize the training of highly qualified personnel in this direction.
Particular attention is paid to the issues of improving the culture of reading, the consistent development of cinematography, a critical analysis of the activities of art councils at all TV channels, and improving the quality of television programs.
– If someone thinks that the issue of spirituality is only the work of the Center for Spirituality or a separate ministry, department, then he is mistaken. This is one of the most important, most important tasks facing all of us, the President stressed.
Responsible persons of the sphere, teachers and professors, ministers and khokims of the regions voiced their opinions and proposals on the issues discussed at the video conference.
