The Agency for Quality Assurance in Education has denied reports that teachers' workloads are being reduced to encourage the employment of university graduates.

The National Agency for Education Quality Assurance has denied rumors of an unofficial limitation on teachers' teaching loads in schools to 20 hours. Such measures, it was claimed, were supposedly taken to create additional vacancies for graduates of pedagogical universities.

The controversy arose following reports that some educational institutions may be secretly reducing teachers' workloads to 20 hours, citing the need to employ young professionals. The agency emphasized that no official decisions regarding such a reduction have been made.

The agency's deputy director, Sardor Rakhimbaev, clarified that the standard teacher's salary is 20 teaching hours. However, teachers retain the option to work 1.5 times their full-time salary, or 30 hours. He also stated that there is no official requirement for 100% employment of graduates of pedagogical universities. In response to a comment that such a goal is being discussed by university administrators, Rakhimbaev reiterated that there is no official directive to this effect.

Agency Director Bakhtiyor Yuldashev noted that approximately 6,000 pedagogical graduates enter schools annually, while the total teaching workforce is approximately 250,000. He estimates that this volume of recruitment does not pose a serious threat to the employment of existing teachers.

According to Yuldashev, the number of graduates should be determined based on labor market needs. However, he believes it is inappropriate to train personnel strictly based on the number of available positions, as schools should be able to select the most suitable candidates.

According to the "Graduate Quality Index" study, the majority of graduates of the 2024/2025 academic year found employment after graduating, but almost one in six remained unemployed. Only about 43% of graduates had stable employment in the past six months, and their average official income was 4.9 million soums per month.