Education is compulsory in Uzbekistan until the ninth grade. Nearly the entire adult population can read and write. Illiteracy was high before the Soviet period but was virtually eliminated by 1970 as a result of the Soviet Union’s emphasis on free and universal education. Uzbekistan’s education system continues to follow the Soviet model in most respects, although some changes have been introduced since independence, such as a greater emphasis on Uzbek history and literature. So far the government has been unable to meet the Soviet level of funding for schools. Teachers are generally poorly paid, and new textbooks are in short supply.