All schools are ready for the start of the academic year. This was announced at a press conference by Irina Karzhova, Deputy Head of the Main Department for General Secondary, Preschool and Special Education – Head of the Department for General Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
All schools are ready for the start of the academic year. This was announced at a press conference by Irina Karzhova, Deputy Head of the Main Department for General Secondary, Preschool and Special Education – Head of the Department for General Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"I can state with confidence that general secondary education institutions are ready for the start of the academic year," said Irina Karzhova. "Local executive bodies have established commissions that monitor the readiness of educational institutions for the start of the academic year. When accepting them, the primary focus is on creating safe conditions for the educational process, ensuring the availability of teaching staff and educational and methodological literature. According to data from the end of last week, 99.9% of the readiness certificates for educational institutions have been signed. These documents are signed according to the approved schedule, and the remaining educational institutions are ready for signing, which will happen in the near future."
She also reminded that this year the Ministry of Education recommended two dates for holding the opening ceremonies – August 31 and September 1. Primarily, the festive events will take place on September 1.
According to the representative of the Ministry of Education, in the 2018-2019 academic year, it is planned that 3,038 general secondary education institutions will be operational. Approximately 1.1 million students will begin their studies. "In particular, we expect 110,000 first-graders to start school. By September 1, 3 new general secondary education institutions will be opened. One of them is in Minsk for 1,020 students, one in Bobruisk for the same number, and also in the village of Leskovka, Minsk District – for 720 students," reported Irina Karzhova. "During the academic year, transportation to the place of study will be organized for about 72,300 students. More than 1,500 school buses will be used."
This year, the publication of 56 textbooks is planned, of which 44 are new and 12 are reprints. "By September 1, in accordance with the publication plan, 50 textbooks have been published. They are currently being delivered to educational institutions. By September 1, all of them will be delivered," emphasized Irina Karzhova. "In September-November, the remaining textbooks will be published, which are supplementary and do not significantly affect the organization of the educational process. In particular, these are physics problem books for the 7th grade. The original layouts will be posted on the National Education Portal."
A distinctive feature of the 2018-2019 academic year curriculum will be the introduction of the subject "Labor Training" for 10th-grade students who study all subjects at the basic level. Students will be able to master the educational program for vocational training of workers or employees. All necessary documents have been adopted. If a school does not have the capacity to implement such an educational program, it can be mastered at vocational-technical, secondary specialized, higher, and other educational institutions.
According to Albina Davidovich, Deputy Head of the Main Department of General Secondary, Preschool, and Special Education - Head of the Department of Preschool Education of the Ministry of Education, approximately 432,000 children will attend preschool educational institutions in the new academic year. They will be taught by 56,500 pedagogical workers. "The coverage of children aged 3 to 6 years this year is 95.8%," said Albina Davidovich. "The main areas we will focus on in the new academic year are ensuring the accessibility of preschool education, improving the quality of the educational process, and ensuring health-saving conditions in institutions." By the new academic year, 6 textbooks in Belarusian and Russian have already been published, and the organization of the educational process from September 1 is fully ensured.
In 2018, the commissioning of 17 preschool educational institutions with 3,130 places is planned. "Since the beginning of this year, four facilities with 550 places have already been commissioned: in Gomel, the village of Kopishche in the Minsk region, Minsk, and Ostrovets. At the beginning of the academic year, we also expect new kindergartens - 7 preschool educational institutions with 1,630 places in Brest, Shchuchin, Grodno, Novogrudok, Fanipol, and Minsk," noted Albina Davidovich.
As the Head of the Department of Supervision and Prevention of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Dmitry Turchin, reminded, state fire supervision bodies constantly monitor the fire safety of educational institutions, as well as buildings where students and trainees live. "This year, more than 3,000 educational institutions have been inspected, as well as 546 dormitories that are on their balance sheet," the head of the department reported. "Safety culture is increasing every year. And if we talk about the fact that 99.9% of readiness certificates have been signed, then 0.1% are violations that are eliminated within a day or two. Mainly, these are blockages of evacuation routes - possibly after school repairs. Isolated cases include incomplete provision of primary fire extinguishing means."