March 5, Middle school № 225 hosted the final board of the committee on education of Mingorispolkom. The Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Ivanets, Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Artem Tsuran, heads of district administrations of the city, representatives of the industry work union, and representatives of the teaching community took part in its work.

The participants considered the results of work of the Minsk city education system throughout 2023, analyzed all the possible directions of work and set key tasks for 2024.

Current plans include commissioning of a new school in Lebyazhi neighborhood and several kindergartens in Frunzenski and Pervomaisky districts. Deputy Chairman Artem Tsuran assured us that “The amount of finance allocated to education soars yearly. The system has 50 thousand employees including 31 thousand of teaching staff. Wages increase is one of the key tasks for leaders of institutions and agencies to solve. In 2023 the nominal average monthly wage was 1 382 rubles. Teachers had 1 703 rubles and 1 369 for nurses.

Particular attention is paid to improving the material and technical base of educational institutions. In 2023, a significant amount of work on current repairs was completed with 47 million rubles paid for the expenses. The goal for 2024 is to resolve the issue of replacing windows and funds have already been allocated for these purposes. About 50 million rubles were allocated for the overhaul of educational institutions. By the new academic year in Minsk, secondary schools No. 53, 95, gymnasium No. 10, and kindergarten No. 231 will open their doors for students.

Minister of Education Andrei Ivanets focused not only on the created conditions in educational institutions, but also on the constant skilled work with talented pupils and students. He said that starting next year in Belarus the plan is to introduce year-round correspondence Olympiads for schoolchildren. At the same time, the identification of gifted and talented children must be carried out all year round throughout the country, regardless of their place of residence.

“We plan to introduce a year-round correspondence Olympiad starting from the next academic year. It will be a kind of training center for every young person. We plan to organize year-round training camps during the holiday period to train all children from all over the republic in all academic subjects. This will make it possible to equally reveal the potential that our schoolchildren from every corner of the country have today to achieve better results,” explained the Head of the Department.

Schools, regional educational development institutes and, importantly, universities will enjoy special treatment during the Olympiad. Each specialty and academic subject will be assigned a university, faculty and relevant teachers, who will help develop the abilities of young people not only at the stage of traveling to international Olympiads.

In turn, the chairman of the education committee of the Minsk City Executive Committee, Andrei Strigelsky, spoke about the immediate prospects for training highly qualified specialists in the capital’s educational institutions. Thus, starting this year, the Minsk City Pedagogical College began training PE teachers, and from 2025 they will begin training future teacher-organizers. According to the chairman of the committee, the volume of training for primary school teachers and preschool teachers will continue to gradually increase. Systematic work to improve the qualifications of all categories of teaching staff is also expected from the city Institute for Educational Development. In particular, we are talking about those who interact with children who need special attention and support.

The capital is carrying out step-by-step work to implement the most important principle of state policy - inclusion in education. What matters here is accessibility and quality for everyone who needs it. About 80% of children with complex diagnoses are now studying in integrated conditions in Minsk. A colossal role in this issue is given to additional education of children and youth. In the capital, interest groups continue to increase the number of children with special needs. The positive effect of such activities is significant for both children and parents, and teachers.

At the same time, the issue of attrition is relevant. In 2023, more than 1.1 thousand people entered the Minsk education system. 72% of young specialists continued to build a career in this field. Support for novice teachers, namely the high-quality work of the mentoring institute, has been effective in achieving this result. According to representatives of the education sector, young people are interested in gaining valuable experience and the opportunity to use targeted training as a guarantor of long-term retention in their first job.

Based on the results of the board, those who showed brilliant results in educating and training the younger generation of patriots of our country and strive for excellence were given well-deserved awards. They were awarded to the best schools, gymnasiums and kindergartens of the city, as well as to the capital’s teachers personally. Seven teams of educational institutions were awarded the Quality Mark. In turn, students from a number of schools and gymnasiums in the capital presented their scientific developments as part of the exhibition “Capital Education. The priority is quality” and expressed their intention to develop them jointly with their teachers, and to implement the most original and necessary ideas for science and the economy of our country.