Some people think playing computer games is bad for children on everything. Others think it has some positive on the way children develop. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

A quarter of a century after independence,

this

Central Asian country, in which youngsters under the age of 24 comprise 52% of the population, continues to be seriously lacking in

school

and university infrastructure. These challenges raise many questions about Uzbekistan’s development. Since, in todays world people the most vital factors in getting

well-paid job

Suggestion

a well-paid job

is

education

. Today, less than one-quarter of age-eligible children are enrolled in nursery schools. At primary and secondary

level

, hundreds of thousands of students attend overextended schools in shifts. Symptomatically, the state struggles to recruit teachers: low salaries, extremely long hours, and low prestige make teaching an unappealing career path. The limited number of teachers means that fundamental subjects

such

as mathematics are poorly taught or

even not taught

Suggestion

not even taught

at all. Upon leaving secondary

school

, just one in every eleven students can expect to be admitted to an Uzbek university—and even

then

, employers disparage

this

education

, which they consider to be rote learning based on state ideology, disconnected from the needs of the labour market, and possibly even for sale, in fact corruption pervades the country’s higher

education

. On top of

this

, many schools operate in two or three shifts: pupils receive only a few hours’ instruction every day so that every student can be taught. Classes continue to be overcrowded as many as 40 pupils and many

school

students must work three to a desk and loads of homework to deal with. The average salary of a teacher or professor is vastly insufficient to ensure a decent standard of living. Many teachers are obliged to hold several jobs just to meet their family’s basic needs. The difficult working conditions and meagre salaries breed corruption among teaching staff, especially at the tertiary

level

. These conditions

have considerably devalued

Suggestion

considerably devalue

considerably devalued

the profession and

demotivated

a growing number of students graduating from teaching institutions. Many change their career path after graduation or leaving the profession after only a few years of teaching, moving to better-remunerated and more socially esteemed professions

such

as secretarial work or interpreting. In 2017, it was estimated that Uzbek schools need 20-25% more teachers.

This

deficiency is particularly acute in certain subjects, including English, economics, mathematics and computer science. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds

also

tend to be concentrated in low-quality schools or overcrowded classes. The disparities are even more pronounced in tertiary

education

: 59% of university students belong to the

quintile

power to direct or determine

control

of the most well-off families. While 69% of students pay tuition fees at bachelor

level

and 75% at masters

level

, many Uzbek households are unable to afford the enrolment fees; sometimes, they cannot even afford lodging near or transport to the university.

Lastly

, economic and social difficulties have pushed several million Uzbeks (at least three million in 2017 alone) to work abroad,

in particular

in Russia. While the remittances sent home may contribute to financing the educations of children from underprivileged backgrounds, the absence of one or both parents can

also

negatively impact a child’s development, including his or her motivation and assiduousness at

school

as well as behaviour.

Mirziyoyev

decided to re-increase the years of obligatory schooling from 9 to 11 years, a positive

decision but

Accept comma addition

decision, but

one that

nevertheless

risks exacerbating the existing teacher shortage by requiring some 22,000 more teachers.