The Republican interdepartmental seminar took place today in the state educational institution "Krivichi special medical and educational vocational school of a closed type. Among the participants were representatives of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, regional (Minsk City) executive committees, as well as heads of special educational institutions and heads of treatment and rehabilitation institutions.

The focus is on the comprehensive rehabilitation of minors, individual preventive work with them.

At the seminar, Minister of Education Andrei Ivanets said that the venue was not a random choice. The Krivichi Special Medical and Educational School of a closed type is the only specialized institution in the country where, by a court decision or verdict, under specially created conditions, the main program for the comprehensive rehabilitation of minors who use narcotic drugs, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances, alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks is implemented.

Today, there are 45 teenagers in this special institution undergoing rehabilitation and they are accustomed to a normal existence without alcohol, drugs, or smoking.

This year, thanks to the efforts of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of minors enrolled in special vocational schools has increased. As of August 1, 2023, there are 190 pupils in special institutions of a closed type.

“Within the framework of interagency cooperation, it is necessary to provide for an earlier referral of adolescents, when rehabilitation will be more effective and timely. To prevent such adolescents and young people from return to closed institutions, for which we analyze the effectiveness of the work and the reasons for return to special institutions,” the head of the department said, addressing the participants of the seminar.

Close attention is given to preventive work. In this regard, the Minister is convinced that the commissions on juvenile affairs must clearly fulfill their coordinating function, ensure the timely referral of adolescents to closed institutions.

Andriy Ivanets also informed that at a meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Education on April 13, 2023, the issues of organizing educational and preventive work in educational institutions were considered in detail, focusing on the prevention of violence against minors.

Over the past period, a number of systemic measures have been implemented to radically change approaches to the detection of violence, to conduct individual preventive work.

The experience of complex rehabilitation of minors in the conditions of the Minsk City Clinical Drug Rehabilitation Center was useful, as well as information about the role of commissions for minors in organizing the complex rehabilitation of minors, sending them to special educational and treatment and rehabilitation institutions.

The leitmotif of the thematic event was the message of the Minister of Education to all its participants: "I think we need to take comprehensive measures to create safe conditions for children at school, kindergarten, college."