22 March, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. The Education Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee and the Vitebsk Regional Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) are initiating the reintroduction of the "Fundamentals of Safe Living" (OSZh) course into the mandatory school curriculum. This was announced today at a joint briefing by Vasily Chekan, Head of the Vitebsk MES Department, and Leonid Stepanov, First Deputy Head of the Education Department, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. Currently, schools offer an elective course "Fundamentals of Safe Living," but children's knowledge is not assessed, which reduces their responsibility when studying this subject, believes Leonid Stepanov. As a rule, electives in schools are taught by teachers who do not have a specialisation in this subject, and the teaching is limited to theoretical knowledge without practical application. "However, introducing the course into the mandatory school curriculum would enhance students' knowledge of the most important thing – their own lives," he is confident. The schools have developed OSZh course programmes and have textbooks for grades 1 to 11. According to Leonid Stepanov, Vitebsk State University is ready to retrain teachers in OSZh. Head of the MES Vasily Chekan is also confident in the necessity of restoring the OSZh subject in general education institutions. According to him, a test conducted among students in one of the region's schools showed that high school students lack sufficient theoretical knowledge of the fundamentals of safe living (practical knowledge was not assessed). According to Vasily Chekan, if the OSZh course is introduced into the mandatory programme, MES employees are ready to provide practical assistance to teachers in educating children. The initiative of the two departments will soon be sent to the Ministry of Education.-0-

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