Reports - Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan

Report - Azerbaijan

On the activities of the Association of Azerbaijani Women

by Zemfira Verdiyeve Nadirovna

The Association of Azerbaijani Women (AAW) was established in 1920. Up to 1900 it was the Women's Soviet attached to the Azerbaijan Party Central Committee. In November 1991 it was registered by the Justice Ministry as a public/social/communal non-governmental organization.

Up until 1990 the AAW was exclusively concerned with women's problems, but since that year, in connection with events in our republic, it also became involved in social services.

The organization extends aid to the isolated and the sick, to elderly and to invalids residing in the housing estates and settlements of Buzovna, Mardakian, Ramani, Bil'giah, Zagul'ba. They are brought meals at home, clothing, medicine, sweets and fruit. This is in addition to caring for the many who became refugees or were wounded as a result of the conflict with Russia. Eighteen boarding schools in Baku, children's homes, kindergartens also receive the attentions of the AAW. Nor does the AAW overlook those of its own members who are without means and gives them material and moral support. The organization has many ties with other countries. It cooperates with these countries, with women, it participates in conferences and seminars in these countries, represents the interests of the Republic, informing the world of the true voice of Azerbaijan. The AAW is a member of the International Democratic Women's Organization whose headquarters is in France.

The organization has a long history. In January 2000 the organization marked its eightieth jubilee. December 1999 saw the celebration of the jubilee of Hokum hanum Sultanova, who once headed the organization. Today, the organization, which has over 75,000 members and has been responsible for training women leaders, can, indeed, take pride in such leaders as Zohra Gulieva, Chairperson of the Women's Government Committee; Elmira Suleimanov, President of the Center for Women's Development; Zarifa Zalahova, Chairperson of the Association of Baku Women; Svetlana Gasimova, Chairperson of the Business Women's Association, who have all worked in the AAW.

Sometimes we are asked if there is a need for so many women's organizations? We invariably have the same answer. Our country is on a democratic path and naturally enough in a democratic country there will be many women's organizations, and what's wrong with that? Our motto is to help our people. If the AAW only helps our people once, then the 30 active women's organizations doing the same results in the people having 30 times the support, and that is our aim. And in any case, this is a positive indicator. We wish all women's organizations well and we cooperate with them.

Report - Uzbekistan

Educational reform in Uzbekistan

by V. I. Andrianova and D. A. Kadirova, Uzbek National Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, named after T. N. Kari-Niyazi

I was in Israel in 1997 and participated in the International Course on Education for Science and Technology given at the Aharon Ofri International Training Center in Kibbutz Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem. Meeting with teachers and students from schools and higher education institutes was unforgettable and I will always remember my time in Israel. My horizons were considerably widened by what I saw and received in Israel. In the last ten years there have been many changes in Uzbekistan in the field of education, and together with my colleague, Dr. V. I. Andrianova, Professor of Pedagogical Science, I have written an article for Shalom Magazine. [We print it here in part. The Editor.]

Democracy and liberty are great treasures of civilization, and Uzbekistan, having achieved them, in its turn endows them with a new content, combined with independence, dignity and national pride. With democratization and independence came historic changes in every sphere of the life of the republic and, first of all, in the system of education directed at the plan for the formation in the rising generation of spiritual values, humanitarianism as the driving force in people's outlook, the emancipation of creative abilities and possibilities, and the emergence into new horizons of self-expression.

A national program for the preparation of cadres (1997), developed on the basis of analysis of national experience, is oriented toward the formation of a new generation of citizens who realize their responsibility before society, state and family, possessing a highly developed general and professional culture, creative and social activity, with the ability to negotiate social and political life, and the ability to ask and answer questions.

This program, responding to the spirit of our times, necessitates qualitative changes in how children are brought up and educated, especially when it comes to teaching their mother-tongue and foreign languages, which constitute the most important means to realize moral-ethical education, intellectual and language development.

The first stage (1997 - 2001) saw the realization of the national program: to implement a structural reorganization and a fundamental renewal of the content of education in accordance with the Law Concerning Education.

The next stage (2001 - 2005) of the national program is to develop a labor market and realistic socio-economic conditions. That is why the coordination of scholars, methodologists, teachers from different countries for the formation of a heightened language culture in the young generation as a basic means of communication becomes important, since the art of communication in our times has reached global significance - on this foundation rest interrelationships, mutual understanding and cooperation both of individuals but also entire nations and states.