Financing for equity in pre-primary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to institutions
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
Key financing indicators (UIS Data)
According to the 2024 UIS database, the official entrance age to pre-primary education is 3. No information is available regarding the number of years of free pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks, and the number of years of compulsory pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks. According to the 2025 UIS database, the net enrolment rate for pre-primary for both sexes is 69.05%.
Governance
The Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE) leads financing for pre-primary education in Uzbekistan, with support from the Ministry of Economy and Finance for budget oversight and public-private partnerships.
Tuition-free status
Pre-primary education is not guaranteed to be tuition-free by natioanl frameworks.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
Public financing for pre-primary education follows a largely centralised-to-local flow in which the national budget allocates resources to the education sector and distributes them to regional and district governments through equalising intergovernmental transfers. Local authorities then channel these funds to preschools using per-capita (per-child) financing formulas, which determine operating resources regardless of whether the provider is public or, in some cases, an eligible non-state. Equity considerations enter this flow in two ways: first, equalizing transfers are designed to narrow fiscal disparities across regions, ensuring that poorer areas receive proportionally more central support; second, the per-capita model is supplemented by targeted subsidies that reduce or cover fees for children from low-income families, allowing disadvantaged households to benefit from both public and private preschool placements even where local revenue capacity is limited.
2. Education resources to institutions
Government subsidies directly support public pre-primary institutions with operational costs like feeding, equipment, and didactic materials, alongside equity-targeted allocations for poor families’ children via clubs and priority access. According to the 2025 Law on the State Budget, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE) total budget is about 59.16 billion soums, of which roughly 4.08 billion soums is directed specifically to preschool institutions. This preschool allocation consists of the Minister’s Preschool Fund (0.12 billion soums), provision of sports equipment for preschool and school institutions (0.062 billion soums), didactic materials for state preschool organizations (0.04 billion soums), tablets for state preschool organizations (0.05 billion soums), and subsidies for preschool institutions under public-private partnerships (3.81 billion soums).
3. Education resources to students and families
No information was found.
4. Social policies and family support programmes
The Decree on the 2022-2026 Development Strategy exempted monthly payments of up to 3 million soums made by parents to non-state preschool institutions and private schools from income tax.
According to the 2025 Decree on Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Reimbursing Part of the Parents’ Payments, families listed in the Register of Low-Income Families can receive partial compensation of parental fees for children attending private family preschools, with eligibility determined automatically, private preschools receiving 40% of the public preschool fee rate, and compensation provided based on the number of qualifying children up to 15% of total enrolment.
Furthermore, the “From Poverty to Prosperity” initiative, under social protection, grants priority preschool admission to low-income families starting in 2025.
This profile has been reviewed by the National Statistics Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
