The Uzbek authorities are using a proven method for achieving their ambitious plans to reconst Urgench. Since January, schoolchildren, and students spend half of their schooling day to cleaning rubbish, sweeping streets, digging up the ground and planting seedlings.

Last year the government allocated 112 billion sum (approx. 55 million US dollars – Jarayon) for creation of a new image of the regional center in Urgench. At the moment, the authorities are constructing administrative and residential buildings, and demolishing more than 400 buildings, garages and sheds, removing fences of private gardens and orchards in Urgench city.

More than 300 officials from other regions of the country are invited to oversee the constructions works in Urgench. They became the main supervisors surrounded by an army of mahalla (local community in Uzbekistan) activists and all sorts of local officials.

– For the past three months, the urban landscape has changed a lot, – said local journalist to Jarayon during a phone interview. – Demolition of buildings is going on. Dozens of trucks are being used to take out the demolished concrete structures. At the moment only small piles of rubbish left.

Urgench residents, whose buildings were destroyed, sold the bricks and fixtures of their demolished property. However, they do not want to get rid of the piles of construction rubbish. Local officials told them that the earth, on which their property once stood, belonged to the state, not to them. “So let the owner clean then,” say the residents of the destroyed property.

Starting 10 am and until 3:00 pm numerous groups allegedly volunteers work on the streets of Urgench.

This information is confirmed by other residents of the city. According to them, groups of schoolchildren work not far from their schools under the supervision of their teachers. High school and college students usually do the dirty work. They are not allowed to wear work clothes, and students have to work in their school clothes.

– We are often checked by representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office. They check attendance. It has become very strict, – says a deputy director of one of the local schools, who wished to remain anonymous. – We try to achieve 100% attendance. There is nothing wrong with the youth helping their hometown. Then they can spend a little more time for studying.

Uzbek authorities are not interested in the fact that employment of 14-15 year old children contradicts the law. Forced labor is a tradition with long history that goes back to the Soviet era.

“Never before the most important quarter of the school year was used by the authorities so brazenly, and a break in studies at this time of the year can never be recovered”, says the teacher at school #14 in Urgench city Zulhumor Razzakova (name changed for reasons of security of the respondent).

A resident of Namangan Street is surprised of the recent developments in the city.

– Three times a group of students were brought to the neighboring yard to dig the ground of the garden. I was surprised to see that they were forced to paint the poles like seedlings. How can you explain this nonsense? And spades were not enough to all of them, and some of them were just standing with no job, – she says.

According to officials of Khorezm region, everything must be cleaned and shine until the expected visit of president Islam Karimov to the region. During his speech on April 1 at the extraordinary session of the council of People’s Deputies of Tashkent region, president Kairmov spoke about the need for employment of youth in country. The head of state stressed that “the work of the local leaders will be judged by how they solve the issues of employment of the population, especially, graduates of professional colleges.”

Meanwhile, youth in Khorezm region have to quietly obey the instructions of the elders. The budget for the reconstruction of Urgench does not provide payment for landscape improvements. It is the responsibility of the regional and city administration.

There are 31 schools, 16 academic colleges, a university and branches Tashkent universities in Urgench city. So there is a whole army of future professionals, engineers, doctors and teachers that is forced to clean dirty and sometimes smelly piles of garbage.

It was initially obvious that there is a big and young labor reserve in the country. And instead of studying, it can harvest cotton, and collect garbage in the city. And the words of the president that “… first of all, officials must provide the vital interests of the youth, open the doors in front of them, create opportunities for discovering their talents and abilities” sound merely ironic.

The only logical explanation is that the officials took the presidents speech as April Fool’s joke…