Legal education occupies a central place in shaping the legal consciousness and legal culture of the population. Therefore, in all his speeches, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan pays serious attention to the importance of legal culture and the issue of its enhancement.

To this end, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 9, 2019 "On radical improvement of the system of raising legal consciousness and legal culture in society" was adopted, in which the social and economic reforms being implemented in the country are defined as the main tasks of raising legal consciousness and legal culture in society, the formation of a system of consistent communication to the population of the content and essence of the social and economic reforms being carried out in our country, the legislative acts and state programs being adopted, strengthening the life of the population, strengthening the legal culture in the country, and the development of a system of legal education.

This decree establishes that the raising of legal awareness and legal culture in society must be organized systematically and coherently on the principle of the individual, the family, the makhalla, the educational institution, the organization and society. In order to raise the legal consciousness and culture of the population, according to the "Uzbekistan - 2030" strategy, the number of non-State general secondary education organizations should be increased to 1000, the proportion of students studying in non-State general education institutions should be increased to 1000, secondary education organizations should be increased threefold, the level of coverage of young people in higher education should be increased to at least 50%, and the number of lawyers should be increased to at least 2000.

Thanks to the independence in the formation of legal consciousness and culture of the population, the new legal thinking and high spiritual potential of our people found its expression as an ideological basis in our updated Constitution. Our Constitution has emerged, on the one hand, as a direct product of the legal system, legal ideology and culture, which is a high expression of public legal consciousness, and, on the other hand, as an important factor in the formation of legal consciousness, new thinking and culture of the population, their positive orientation and elevation.

In our updated Constitution, important attention has been paid to the issue of raising the legal consciousness and culture of our citizens. Since article 50 of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to education, that the State ensures the development of the system of continuing education, its various types and forms, and State and non-State educational organizations, that the State creates conditions for the development of preschool education and upbringing, guarantees free general secondary education and primary vocational education, that general secondary education is compulsory, that preschool education and upbringing, article 51 of the Constitution provides that preschool education and upbringing are compulsory, and that preschool education and upbringing are compulsory.

There is currently a need to overcome the legal illiteracy found in our society, to foster respect for the law and to achieve intolerance of corruption. An important component of all the work on withering the amateurism, the root of legal illiteracy is legal education of citizens. Legal education is not a simple aggregate of knowledge of law in a person and formal knowledge of legal issues, but a conscious assimilation of the basic provisions of the law, transformation of the acquired knowledge into personal trust, strict observance of the law, the subsequent transformation of its fulfillment into an internal need and habit.

A great role in legal education is played by fiction, mass media, television, radio and the press. The education of legal consciousness is an integral part of the cultural life of society as a whole and of the social function of the State. The main areas of education for legal awareness are legal training, carried out in the course of educational work, the promotion of legal knowledge through the mass media, wall newspapers, lectures, round tables, meetings, oral propaganda, theme evenings, and coercion to fulfill legal requirements.

Educational work raises the individual legal consciousness of a person to the understanding of the most general legal principles and requirements that are in the interests of the whole society and the state.
The task of raising free, educated and competent professional personnel who know their law, who rely on their own strengths and capabilities, who approach events around them independently and consciously, and who consider their personal interests in harmony with the interests of the country and the people, is one of the most pressing issues in the establishment of the New Uzbekistan.

It is necessary that every professional should be well aware of the legal acts of his/her branch and profession and be able to defend them. Therefore, equipping professional staff with legal consciousness, legal culture and legal knowledge is one of the main tasks of a country building a democratic State based on the rule of law. As long as every member of society does not know and realize his rights, duties and responsibilities, does not consider them as his vital need, our ultimate goal will be meaningless.

Legal culture is a qualitative application of law in the life of society. It is a kind of barometer in the use of legal opportunities in solving everyday problems and issues, in meeting the needs of the people. Legal culture as a component of the general culture of society provides conscious management of society, implementation of program tasks set before us, concerted activity of people to form the foundations of civil society with full awareness of the fundamental nature of social and political reforms carried out in our country.

Therefore, the current state of development of society requires a comprehensive improvement of legal culture, legal literacy of all participants of legal relations. Legal culture as a complex of legal knowledge, legal needs and isochoric practical activity serves to ensure the successful solution of the tasks facing society and the state.

One of the most important components of all the work to eradicate ego, legal illiteracy, loss of interest in themselves and others and indifference is the improvement of legal education of citizens. Legal education is not just a set of knowledge of law in a person and formal knowledge of legal issues, but a conscious assimilation of the basic provisions of the law, the transformation of acquired knowledge into personal trust, strict compliance with the law, the subsequent transformation of its implementation into an internal need and habit, the formation of legal activity of citizens.

A great role in legal education is played by fiction, mass media, television, radio and the press. Education of legal consciousness is an integral part of the cultural life of the whole society and the social function of the state. The main areas of education of citizens' legal consciousness are legal education of citizens in the course of educational work, propaganda of legal knowledge through the mass media, wall newspapers, lectures, round tables, meetings, oral propaganda, theme evenings, and coercion to fulfill legal requirements.

Further expansion of the scope of legal knowledge training in general education schools and academic lycées, the preparation of manuals in the form of questions and answers on legal issues frequently encountered in the daily life of the population and their free distribution to the public are of great importance in the development of the public's legal awareness and culture.

According to the Statistics Agency under the President of Uzbekistan, the number of general education establishments has increased by 660 over the past five years, and by the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year the number of operating general education establishments will total 10,750.

The number of non-state general education organizations is also increasing. According to the statistical department, by the beginning of the 2023/24 school year, the number of operating non-state general education organizations in Uzbekistan amounted to 293. Compared to the beginning of the 2018/2019 academic year, this indicator increased by 235.

Door-to-door promotion of legal solutions to issues frequently encountered in everyday life and the essence of newly adopted legislative acts plays an important role in raising the legal awareness and culture of the population, as well as free distribution of leaflets, booklets and other handouts to families aimed at conveying legal information, holding regular legal propaganda events among young people and parents on the age of marriage, conditions of alimony payment, incest and its legal consequences, discussion in the neighborhoods of the various

In addition, to review and organize the teaching of special courses" "study of the Constitution" and "study of human rights" in terms of systematic instruction in all types of education, to create a system of new-generation legal textbooks and teaching aids, including teaching aids for elementary school pupils in general education schools aimed at simple and visual instruction in legal knowledge, to organize and conduct national competitions in legal studies among pupils and students of educational establishments

There are currently 2,140 media outlets operating in our country, an increase of 626 from 2016. The fact that 65 percent of them are non-state media indicates that structural changes are consistently taking place in this sphere. It should be noted that along with traditional publications, online publications are rapidly developing, their number has reached 745, and they are attracting more and more readers.

The mass media of our country are boldly entering the international information space. The programs of the National Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan and a number of private television studios are broadcast in more than 100 countries. Uzbekistan's national news agency, the Dunyo news agency, disseminates its news in 10 foreign languages.

It should be further recognized that the workers of the publishing and printing industry make a worthy contribution to the noble cause of popularizing reading in our country. The fact that 132 million copies of books on art and other literature have been published by the republic's publishing houses in recent years undoubtedly plays an important role in raising the consciousness of our book-loving people, first of all our youth.

Strengthening the role of the mass media in ensuring public control in raising the legal awareness and culture of the population, strengthening their links with government bodies and civil society institutions, training, retraining and professional development of teachers, expanding the scope of master's and doctoral theses on raising legal culture, with special attention paid to a comprehensive study of conflicts and violence in the family and their socio-legal consequences.

Thus, in order to increase the effectiveness of work on raising legal consciousness and culture of the population, to further improve their legal knowledge, to create in all higher educational institutions of our country departments of law, to establish in this department excellent teaching of such disciplines as law, constitutional law, human rights, to systematically organize on TV and radio channels a series of programs and broadcasts on human rights, as well as it is advisable to create in all pedagogical universities of our country the faculty of law and to train at it a legal expert.



Muhammadi Usmanov,

Professor of the University of Public Security

Professor of the University of Public Security of the Republic of Uzbekistan,

Doctor of Law

📅 22.06.2024