The "Introduction to Information Technology" course will be introduced at the beginning of 2010 in all schools in Orsha

December 8, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The "Introduction to Information Technologies" course will be introduced at the beginning of 2010 in almost all secondary schools of Orsha. This was announced by the Deputy Director of the High-Tech Park (HTP) Administration, Alexander Martinkevich, today at the opening of a city resource center for information technologies in the district center, a BELTA correspondent reports. Orsha became the first city in Belarus where the HTP administration, together with resident companies, implemented a project to create a resource center for information technologies for the city as a whole, rather than for a separate educational institution, Alexander Martinkevich emphasized. The opening of a kind of HTP branch for schoolchildren in Orsha will allow for the organization of distance learning for children in the "Introduction to Information Technologies" course, and the creation of a digital library of methodological and educational materials that teachers can use to teach a wide range of academic disciplines. In addition, computer clubs for children and adolescents will be organized at the center, as well as specialized courses for everyone. Personnel for the implementation of the distance learning course are being trained at the HTP, together with the resident company Cisco. At the opening ceremony of the center, 27 Orsha teachers, who underwent training under an international program, received corresponding international certificates, which give them the right to teach the "Introduction to Information Technologies" course. In addition to training, the center is designed to assist in career guidance. "In the context of building a knowledge-based economy, it is important for schoolchildren to choose technical specialties. The future of our country lies in technical education, which will be created by engineers, programmers, and people with innovative thinking," noted Alexander Martinkevich. If we manage to interest children in engineering specialties, then in the coming years, specialists will be trained who will ensure Belarus's breakthrough in the field of information technologies, the Deputy Director of the HTP Administration is confident. -0-