On January 20, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. The most important thing for a young person is self-realisation. This point of view was expressed today by the Minister of Education of Belarus, Sergey Maskevich, at an off-site republican thematic seminar-meeting of heads of youth affairs departments of regional and Minsk city executive committees "Patriotic education of student and working youth in the Vitebsk region", a BELTA correspondent reports. "The issue of youth self-realisation is now coming to the forefront. Self-realisation is work for the benefit of oneself and society," the minister stressed. In his opinion, it is necessary to eradicate dependent attitudes among youth, when a young person believes that the state owes them something. Youth need to be taught to set goals, find ways to achieve them, solve tasks themselves, and take responsibility. At the recent congress of the BRSM NGO, the head of state instructed to expand the student construction brigade movement. The Minister of Education is confident that student brigades should be assigned work on significant projects so that young people can be proud of their labour. "This is how patriotic feelings will also develop," Sergey Maskevich is confident. According to sociological surveys, Belarusian youth highly appreciate living in a sovereign independent country. "The sovereignty and independence of the country have become the basic values of Belarusian youth. They must be strengthened and continue to be formed, taking into account international experience, among other things," the minister believes. Participants of the republican seminar learned about how patriotic education and ideological work are carried out with student and working youth in the Vitebsk region, visited the work collectives of Vitebsk Broiler Poultry Factory OJSC, Vitebsk branch of Belarusian Railway, where work with young staff is most effectively organised, and also visited the regional museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union M. Shmyrev. -0-

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