Scandals related to the rental prices of school textbooks reached the ears of the President, and according to the order of the head of state, the costs of textbooks are now fully transferred to the state budget.

During discussions on social networks, information about companies engaged in printing school textbooks was also spread. The creative team of Kun.uz tried to objectively study whether there is any basis in these claims, what are the achievements and shortcomings of the updated textbooks. Based on open data, the publication analyzed how textbooks were created and published.

In the school we went to in Samarkand, most of the textbooks were distributed before the start of classes. (For example, no 3rd and 6th grade textbooks in schools, where education is conducted in Russian). Therefore, there is no need to be surprised if some textbooks are missing from the list below. The general picture can be understood by looking at the rest of the textbooks.

The oldest textbooks in use were published in 2017. In 2017, textbooks of 6th, 7th and 10th grades were published; in 2018 – 11th grade; in 2019 – 8th-9th grades, in 2020 – 4th-5th grades, in 2021 – 1st-2nd grades. In 2022, only 3rd grade textbooks have been updated so far.

Textbooks are increasing in size

It should be noted that the textbooks in the schools of Uzbekistan are being transferred to a new format. The textbooks, which were in medium format, are getting bigger and are being printed in large format (closer to A4 format). True, it corresponds to state and international standards.

There are still different opinions on this. Some parents and students say that previous medium format books were more compact, lighter, and easier to put on the bookshelf and students’ backpacks. A number of experts and teachers note that the new books are written in a very understandable language, printed on high-quality paper, decorated with beautiful pictures and illustrations.

Textbooks are supposed to be replaced in every 4 years. The school librarian said that only 1st grade textbooks are replaced and disposed of in every 2 years. Exercise books for primary classes are printed every year.

One point should be noted here: textbooks and exercise books are printed in 7 different types in Uzbekistan. Most of them, of course, are textbooks in the Uzbek language. Then the share of textbooks in the Russian language is also significant. Also, textbooks in Karakalpak, Tajik, Kazakh, Turkmen and Kyrgyz languages ​​are printed in the same form.

What is the textbook printing scheme?

Textbook printing is carried out by tenders. Announcements about tenders and their results are posted on the website etender.uzex.uz. According to the customer’s request, the printing company that participated in the competition for printing a certain textbook of a class undertakes to print all its language versions.

If we pay attention to the years 2017-18, textbooks are mainly produced by “Uzbekistan” publishing-printing creative house, “Sharq” publishing-printing JSC, Publishing-printing creative house named after Gafur Gulom, “Ukituvchi” publishing-printing creative house, “Chulpon” publishing-printing creative house, “Yangiyul poligraf servis” LLC.

On March 17, 2020, the presidential decree “On additional measures for the further development of the publishing and printing industry” was adopted. According to it, from October 1, 2020, the state regulation of prices for the publication of textbooks and teaching-methodical complexes was canceled. Until then, it was not possible to make a profit of more than 15 percent for the work to be performed.

In 2019, the “Ukituvchi” publishing-printing creative house within AIMC was divided into two structures, and a scientific-methodical publishing center and a printing house were established under the name of the publishing house.

The goal of establishing a scientific-methodical publishing center was to develop new generation textbooks in cooperation with the Ministry of Pre-School Education, Public Education and Higher and Secondary Specialized Education in the continuous educational system.

However, in accordance with the presidential decree of November 7, 2020 “On additional measures to further improve the education system”, based on the order of the Ministry of Public Education, the Republican Education Center under the MPE has been given the authority to select authors and compilers and to create uniform layouts of textbooks and methodological manuals for teachers.

From 2020, the situation in the field of book publishing has changed. For example, some textbooks were published by the “HUQUQ VA JAMIYAT” LLC, “Yangiyul poligraf servis” LLC. In general, it is possible to witness that printing enterprises that did not have the opportunity to print books two or three years ago won the lot for printing textbooks and printed books at “Uzbekistan” publishing house, “Yangiyul poligrag servis” LLC, and “Sharq” publishing house.

From the outside, an interesting situation emerges. While textbooks for grades 1-9 were published by the same famous state-owned printing companies, with the introduction of 10th grade in schools in 2017 and 11th grade in 2018, as well as the introduction of new subjects in schools, new market printing enterprises appeared.

• DAVR NASHRIYOTI LLC – Russian and Uzbek language textbooks for 10th grade were prepared at “Uzbekistan” publishing house;
• NISO POLIGRAF LLC – Physics textbook for 10th grades was prepared at “Uzbekistan” publishing house;
• MITTI YULDUZ LLC – Geography textbook for 5th grade was prepared at “Uzbekistan” publishing house, Chemistry textbook for 8th – at “YANGIYUL POLIGRAF SERVIS” LLC.
• TURON-IQBOL LLC – World History textbook for grades 10-11 was prepared at “Uzbekistan” publishing house;
• EXTREMUM PRESS LLC – Mathematics textbooks for 10th grade, Informatics textbooks for 11th grade were prepared at “Uzbekistan” and “Ukituvchi” publishing houses;
• ILM-ZIYO family enterprise – Textbook of primary military preparation for 10-11th grades was prepared at “Sharq” publishing house;
• ZAMIN-NASHR LLC – Mathematics textbook for 11th grade was prepared at “Uzbekistan” and “CREDO PRINT GROUP” publishing houses;
• IMPERIAL PRINT LLC – Visual Arts and Mathematics textbooks for the 3rd grade (in 2022) was prepared at “Sharq” publishing house;
• EUROASIA PRINT LLC published an English exercise book for 3rd grades.

KOLORPAK’s emergence on the field

In various debates on social networks, on anonymous channels, information was revealed that KOLORPAK LLC is winning a large part of the textbook tender lots.

The beneficiaries of this enterprise entered the market of school textbooks for the first time in 2019. In the same year, NASHRIYOT UYI TASVIR LLC took part in the competition and published the Informatics textbook for 8th grade at KOLORPAK LLC, co-founded by its main founder.

Ismoil Isroilov, one of the founders of KOLORPAK, is a former director of AKFA ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, one of the former founders of ECO HOUSE-GROUP. He also owns 56.9 percent of DISCOVER INVEST. Kun.uz wrote about ECO HOUSE-GROUP and DISCOVER INVEST companies who are acquiring large projects in the capital without a tender.

The company has two founders with practically equal shares: Shukhrat Akhmedov and Ismoil Isroilov. Each of them directly owns 36.7 percent of the shares. The third founder – ZO‘R TV also belongs to these two persons (50/50).

According to information from some sources, Ismoil Isroilov is the nephew of Tashkent city governor Jakhongir Artikhodjayev. Previously, he was the director of AKFA ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, and at the moment, he is considered a person related to a number of companies, including the governor.

On August 27, 2021, based on the relevant decision of the State Tender Commission, KOLORPAK LLC was declared the winner of the sale of 100 percent of the state share of “Ukituvchi” printing house. In this case, the purchase price accounted for 22.3 billion soums, and the winner was to equip it with new modern printing equipment worth at least $2.5 million during 15 months, carry out repairs in the publishing house worth no less than 20 billion soums, and create new 50 jobs while maintaining existing ones.

Let’s pay attention to the tenders won by KOLORPAK LLC through the UzEX-tender site of the Republican Commodity Exchange. The enterprise has won at least 16 lots for the current academic year:

• 10th grade: Mother tongue, Geography, English, Russian language;
• Grade 9: English language;
• 8th grade: Russian language;
• Grade 7: History of Uzbekistan, Algebra, Uzbek language;
• Grade 6: Ancient World History;
• 4th grade: Russian language;
• 3rd grade: Russian language, Technology, Music;
• Grade 2: Mother Tongue and Reading Literacy Workbook;
• Grade 1: English language.

Is all fair in the book publishing market?

The rent of school textbooks has increased by 2-3 times compared to last year.

After President Mirziyoyev’s assignment on school textbooks, a critical meeting on this issue was held under the chairmanship of the head of the presidential administration, Sardor Umrzakov.

On the one hand, it seems that new companies are created for receiving the money allocated from the state budget, and they somehow win lots in the competition. Because tens of billions of funds are allocated for printing each grade textbook.

On the other hand, the fact that a leading enterprise seeks to own a large part of hundreds of billions of funds also causes a monopoly in the industry.

In addition, the fact that printing houses are allowed to make as much profit as they want on books, and books are printed in large format on paper, will inevitably lead to an increase in paper consumption and typography costs. So, there was a reason for attempting to increase the rent of school textbooks by 2-3 times.

The design of the new textbooks prepared by the Republican Education Center is better than the previous ones. Admittedly, the quality has also improved. However, it cannot be understood why new subjects have increased at schools. The focus should be only on better provision and teaching of basic subjects.

When printing the current circulation of textbooks, an increase in the number of students in the subsequent years was not taken into account. For example, when printing textbooks for 10th grades, the current number of 7th grades must be taken into account. Because they will be at 10th grade in 4 years. The number of students is growing year by year. Besides, during the use of books, they are lost and torn. This is one of the main reasons for lack of books in schools, isn’t it?