During the last meeting with the Head of State on the readiness of the education system for the new academic year, a tough task was set to conduct a detailed analysis with the development of an operational action plan to eliminate all current shortcomings by the beginning of the academic year.

At today's meeting in the Council of Ministers on preparation for the new academic year, the following blocks of issues were discussed: readiness of educational institutions, readiness passports, sanitary and technical condition, student safety, access control, fire and road safety. In addition, the issues of catering for students, organization of delivery and distribution to schools, material support for orphans and other categories of those in need, work to improve the quality of teaching aids were considered.

At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko noted: “The education system is working effectively, but there are shortcomings that need to be addressed. Shortcomings are identified by both educational authorities and regulatory authorities. As a result, last Friday, the head of state noted the unacceptability of even individual omissions in this area.”

According to him, education is the most important social institution. Its development largely determines the development of society. More than BYN 10 billion from the consolidated budget is allocated to finance the industry this year. By the new academic year, two new schools and four kindergartens will be put into operation (total 9 kindergartens by the end of the year).

Roman Golovchenko noted that the summer vacation period is a traditional time for preparing educational institutions, preparing infrastructure for the new academic year, taking all necessary measures to create security and comfortable conditions for students. "At the same time, today a number of educational institutions have not yet completed preparations for the academic year (for which their founders are responsible) and do not have certificates of readiness. According to the leadership of the regional executive committees, these certificates will be issued before the start of the academic year," he said.

In turn, Minister of Education Andrey Ivanets says that the main focus is the safety of our children: “Each parent must be sure that on September 1, the child will come to an educational institution, where all the necessary safety standards for the sanitary and epidemiological regime, fire safety will be met".

The minister noted that a lot of work has been done in this regard. In June, inspectors found more than 6,000 violations. To date, the vast majority of these violations have been eliminated.

“Currently, the signing of acts of readiness of our institutions of general secondary education is being completed. At the moment, 53 schools out of almost 3,000 schools do not yet have a readiness certificate, however, by August 25, all educational institutions will receive these certificates,” Andrei Ivanets said.

An important aspect is school meals. In the last half of the year, a large-scale pilot project took place, involving 23 schools. The amount of waste was monitored daily. As part of the project, it was possible to reduce the amount of waste by more than 25%. According to the Minister, this indicates the effectiveness of this project.

The head of the department also noted that technological maps of new dishes have been developed and approved, which can be used by all schools in the country. In order to have the appropriate competencies for work, over the summer period, more than 1,500 school chefs underwent advanced training.

A big step forward has been made in the matter of material and technical equipment. More than 630 units of technological equipment was purchased. Capital repairs were carried out in 134 catering units in all regions. Already from September 1, more than 60% of schools will switch to the implementation of school feeding approaches that were tested as part of a pilot project.

The school car park will receive new vehicles. By 1 September, 151 new school buses will be delivered to educational institutions. In the new academic year, 52,000 students will be provided with transportation. More than 1,600 school buses will be used for this. Also this year, another 124 school buses will be purchased. In general, this will fully replace the fleet of all school buses with more than 10 years of service.

Also today, on the basis of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after M. Tank, a collegium of the Ministry of Education discussed topical issues. Among the main ones are the readiness of educational institutions for the new academic year, as well as the results of the 2023 admission campaign.

It was noted that in 2022-2023, in accordance with the instructions of the Head of State, the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Education, education authorities of local executive and administrative bodies, other government bodies that have subordinate educational institutions, educational institutions systematically and consistently resolved issues to ensure the stable functioning and development of the education system. During this period, measures have been implemented aimed at introducing innovative forms of work, improving the quality and accessibility of education, updating the content of educational programs, scientific, methodological and logistical support, and increasing the competitiveness of national education.

In order to unconditionally fulfill the instructions of the Head of State, increase the efficiency of the activities of the Ministry of Education to improve the educational sphere of the Republic of Belarus and ensure the readiness of educational institutions for the academic year, the collegium adopted appropriate decisions.