Confucius Classroom opened at Vitebsk school
The Confucius Classroom was established with the support of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Belarus and the Beijing Institute of Chinese Language, to which representatives of the Vitebsk educational institution directly approached with this initiative. The solemn opening ceremony of the classroom was attended by representatives of the Chinese Embassy, the Beijing Institute, Beijing School No. 80, with which the Vitebsk residents have established direct contacts, and the Vitebsk authorities.
This event was called significant by Li Wenhua, the first secretary of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Belarus for educational affairs. "In recent years, cooperation between the People's Republic of China and Belarus has reached a very high level. The population of Belarus shows great interest in learning the Chinese language and culture. For this purpose, four Confucius Institutes have already been opened (three in Minsk and one in Gomel) and a Confucius Classroom at the Belarusian State University of Physical Education. The Confucius Classroom at Secondary School No. 44 in Vitebsk became the first established on the basis of schools. I am sure that you will be able to achieve new significant successes," she emphasized.
According to the school principal Sergey Pitolenko, negotiations on its opening were held since September 2016. "Approvals at the headquarters of the Confucius Institutes (Hanban) took a very long time. In March of this year, preliminary approval was received, and the process of collecting documents began. The final decision to open a Confucius Classroom at our school was made on August 29. A week ago, funding in the amount of $30 thousand was allocated for equipping the classroom with the necessary equipment and teaching materials. We will try to complete this work in the shortest possible time," said the principal. "Not only our students, but also everyone who wishes will be able to attend classes."
Secondary School No. 44 in Vitebsk was one of the first in Belarus to start teaching Chinese to students. In 2016, a language laboratory was opened for this purpose. Currently, about 200 schoolchildren from grades 1 to 9 study the language and culture of the Celestial Empire here. Classes are held both as electives, and Chinese is also studied as the main foreign language. Over the past few years, representatives of the school have regularly been among
winners of the final stage of the republican оlympiad in Chinese language.