The best rural school in Belarus is located in the Braslav district
The school was filled with the hum of children's voices, ringing girlish laughter, and music. The bell for the last lesson had just rung. "Freedom!" – echoed from all sides. High school girls ran out onto the playground in front of the school, jumping to the rhythm of the music playing. Younger students, who were dismissed earlier, were already playing tennis at the brand-new table.
– This is one of the gifts from the Ministry of Education, – said the principal, Svetlana Kurban. – In addition to the tennis table, we received 17 sets of skis and 25 balls.
Furthermore, for winning the open competition "School Plot as an Educational Platform for Modern Safe Agrotechnologies" and within the framework of cooperation with the public association "Belarusian Green Cross," which is implementing the international technical assistance project "School Garden" for the development of agricultural entrepreneurship, we received a grant for the improvement of the school plot. With it, we bought a new greenhouse where we plan to grow seedlings and early vegetables.
It should be noted that the territory of the school plot has changed beyond recognition over the past year. Lawns, flower beds, sports grounds, and small architectural forms have acquired a modern design. The principal already has a project for how the plot will look in the summer. The design of two flower beds will be dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders; seedlings are already growing.
By the way, the school grows seedlings not only for its own needs but also to decorate the entire agro-town – the central square, where huge gabion flower beds are laid out, the monument to the liberators, and other public places. This is sponsorship for the village, whose residents also support the educational institution in many endeavors.
The school will sell surplus vegetable seedlings, as well as part of the harvest. With the money earned, two sewing machines were previously purchased for labor training classes.
As part of the "School Garden" technical assistance project, the team aims to secure new grants. Teachers and their students have renovated the garden and redesigned the school grounds, where they plan to grow not only vegetables but also thuja trees and medicinal herbs for herbal teas.
Among the gifts received are equipment for the educational and practical center for studying life safety fundamentals, and an EMERCOM playground.
All of this is a reward for the team's work, as they maintain the building in good condition using their own funds and with the support of SVK "Mayak Braslavsky".
However, the criteria set by the Ministry of Education for evaluating school performance included more than just material resources. The majority of criteria pertained to teacher professionalism, educational quality, student development levels, and safety compliance. The Opsa school outperformed its competitors in these areas as well. 85% of the teachers hold the highest or first category qualifications. Among them are individuals recognized as the best in their profession, recipients of the "Person of the Year of Braslav region" title, and candidates for the teacher-methodologist category defense. The natural outcome of professionals' work is student success. Last year, students earned 48 diplomas for victories in olympiads and creative competitions, including national and international ones.
– We strive to ensure that rural children are not inferior to urban schoolchildren in subject preparation and creative development, that they study successfully, and acquire professions needed by society. And, of course, that they are patriots of their country, – emphasized Svetlana Kurban. – In this direction, the school's BRSM organization, recognized as the best in the region last year, works purposefully with the teachers.