Uzbekistan's judicial system has become a battleground for a new dispute in the education sector. This was reported by Upl.uz.
Four history teachers filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Preschool and School Education. They criticized the results of their qualification attestation, demanding a review of the final scores and compensation for moral damages.
The case is being heard at the Interdistrict Civil Court of Shaykhontohur district. The session scheduled for 3:00 PM on August 14 started two hours late, only beginning at 5:00 PM.
The proceedings, which were supposed to be presided over by Judge Gulhayo Jumaeva, were postponed indefinitely because the defendant—the ministry—had not received the lawsuit and had no opportunity to review it. The dispute arose from a single question in the attestation test.
In the exam held on May 8, 2025, the question was: "Which tribe conquered all of Spain after Justinian I?" The test system accepted "Lombards" as the correct answer, based on the seventh-grade world history textbook published in 2022.
However, the plaintiffs—two men and two women from various educational institutions—selected "Visigoths" as their answer. They supported their position with reliable sources such as the Britannica Encyclopedia, the English Wikipedia, the 2017 textbook edition, and historian Fozila Sulaymonova's work "West and East."
The teachers emphasized that it is widely accepted in academic circles that Spain was conquered by the Visigoths, and this is also taught at the university level. The lawsuit stated that the test question creators should not rely on a single source, especially if that source contains factual errors.
"When forming test questions, the defendant must rely on reliable and verified sources. Textbooks are written by people and are not free from errors," the complaint reads.
The teachers noted that using conflicting information from different editions of the same textbook is incorrect. Additionally, the plaintiffs complained about procedural violations during the process.
They reminded that according to the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution No. 572 dated September 17, 2021, attestation should be conducted based on the principles of transparency, cooperation, and fairness. In practice, however, the principle of transparency was violated.
The timing of the appeal review is not announced through official websites, so they are unable to know which questions they answered incorrectly. Furthermore, the teachers claim their right to participate in the appeal process was violated.
The appeal commission gave formal and identical rejections to all complaints without any explanations. These circumstances have damaged their professional reputation and caused psychological discomfort.
Therefore, the teachers are demanding through the court that the ministry acknowledge their answer "Visigoths" as correct, recalculate the attestation scores, and change the final results. They are also requesting compensation of 10 million soums each for moral damages and 3 million soums each to cover attorney fees.
Attestation holds significant importance in a teacher's professional career in Uzbekistan and directly affects their salary. According to Sardor Rahimboev, head of the department of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education, based on attestation results, a teacher is awarded a higher, first, or second qualification category for five years.
Examinations are mandatory once every five years, and additionally, paid supplementary exams are held twice a year. The cost of these is one base calculation amount
