Tozik: Academic year is too short in Belarus

The deputy prime minister has found the reason for poor knowledge of Belarusian schoolchildren.

He thinks the academic year in Belarusian secondary schools is significantly shorter than in other countries. Anatoli Tozik said it at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministries of Belarus to discuss the final report on the comprehensive analysis of the educational system carried out by a working group that was formed on the order of the president, Interfax reports.

Tozik said that when it comes to the number of teaching days a year, Belarus has found itself well behind the countries at the top of the school education ranking as a result of returning to the 11-year school programme and preserving a five-day school week.

“We have 170-173 teaching days, while western European countries (Germany, France) have 230, and the countries of Southeast Asia (Japan, Korea, China) have 260 teaching days,” the deputy PM said.

He stressed the gap becomes even bigger and more dangerous taking into account that children in these countries complete secondary education in 12-13 years and have more academic hours a week.

Tozik added that the working group found most problems in the secondary education system. “Main problems are a decrease in the level and quality of education of schoolchildren, a low status of teaching as a profession, excessive regulations, low motivation to study, parents' inactivity and position of an onlooker,” the deputy PM said.

Deputy prime minister Anatoli Tozik has recently made a number of loud statements on education reforms, among them a proposal to introduce sanctions for parents if their children are absent from kindergarten without a good excuse.