Schools in the Vitebsk region are participating in an experimental project to implement ethno-cultural technologies
The project is experimental. In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, it is being carried out on the basis of four secondary schools in the region – in Novopolotsk, Sennensky, Tolochinsky, and Shumilinsky districts. The goal is to teach the younger generation to live and work in a multi-ethnic environment, to understand and respect not only their own heritage but also the culture of other peoples. What are the results?
We visited Secondary School No. 1 in Shumilino, named after Hero of the Soviet Union P. Akutsyonok. The teaching staff actively and creatively joined the work – the school is represented in an event of national significance for the first time.
– This is a large program designed for four years, – says Svetlana Emelyanova, deputy director of the school. - A group of teachers has been created. Each has a specific area of research. Within their subjects, together with the students, they study the ethnography of the Shumilino district. Geographers, historians, museum workers, musicians, and art critics have joined us. We plan to create an online map of the district on the internet, where we will present the results of our research.
How the work is progressing can be seen today. The school has a new tradition. Every first Friday of the quarter, the project day is held, a mass event to which all residents of Shumilino are invited. The first took place in November – an ethnographic evening, during which schoolchildren spoke about significant events in the history of their native region. And in January, a cheerful Svyatki was held under the motto "Oh, kalyadachki, bliny-ladachki" – a festive carnival, where ancient customs were brightly and widely presented.