The quality and accessibility of education, the importance of which the head of state regularly emphasizes, are ensured in both cities and rural areas today. For more than 1 million students there are over 2,500 schools in the country. This year, 87,500 children started school. The educational process is provided by nearly 98,000 teachers. On average across the country, there are 11 students per teacher (6 in rural schools, 13 in urban schools).
«We carefully review locations with dense residential development and make decisions on the construction of new educational institutions. By the start of the academic year, schools have been built in the agricultural town of Priluki in Minsk Oblast and in the satellite town of Smolevichi. Before the end of this calendar year, another school will be opened in Brest. We annually analyze the needs of the regions,» Education Minister Andrei Ivanets emphasized.
The TV story also showed both small and large schools, which are united by one thing: every student receives education at an appropriate level, and professional teachers open the door for them to the big world of knowledge.
On the edge of the Naliboki Pushcha Natioanl Park, a local rural school had only one first-grader this year — Danya, the fifth child in a large family.
Director of M.N. Chernik Secondary School in Bakshty Svetlana Chekavaya said that the school operates on the principle of individualized instruction. «We see not just a student, but a personality, and the children feel very comfortable. In large schools, it is physically impossible to look into the eyes of every child. But here, looking straight into the eyes, the teacher can explain new material. He immediately sees whether the child understands the material or not, where something needs to be prompted, or perhaps where some advice should be given,» she added.
The director acknowledged that the graduates enter universities on a state-funded basis without additional training.
High school students at the school confirm: it is impossible to sit in the back row or come to class unprepared here. They are called on every day. However, this format ensures a deep mastery of the subject.
Just a few dozen kilometers away, in one of Minsk’s schools, the academic year began for more than 1,600 students. The administration emphasizes that such a number is optimal for the development of the social environment.
«A school should be large, especially when it is located in the capital city,» believes Irina Tsubikova, director of Secondary School No. 61.
