Ceremonial assemblies dedicated to Knowledge Day will be held in schools of the Vitebsk region on September 1st
Most of them have already received readiness certificates and are waiting for students. The first lesson will be titled "Thank you to the Soldiers of Victory for not knowing war." This was announced by Ivan Shchurok, Head of the Education Department of the Regional Executive Committee, to journalists at a press conference. He also spoke about other features of the new academic year.
More First-Graders
According to Ivan Shchurok, the main task remains the same – further improvement of the quality of education. To achieve this, the study of individual subjects at an advanced level (physico-mathematical, chemical-biological, philological, social studies) will continue in grades 10-11 of secondary schools. With the agreement of parents and children, multidisciplinary education may be introduced in schools, gymnasiums, and lyceums. Educational institutions are also permitted to conduct intermediate assessments in subjects not only by quarters but also by trimesters (semesters).
Changes have been made to the number and list of final exams after the ninth and eleventh grades. Now, graduates of basic school will take three written exams – Belarusian, Russian languages, and mathematics. An oral exam on the History of Belarus will be taken after grade 11, along with three other mandatory written exams – Belarusian or Russian language, mathematics, and a foreign language.
The academic year will begin on September 1 and end on May 30, with classes concluding on the 29th. Approximately 108,000 people will attend schools in the Vitebsk region, with 12,000 of them being first-graders. As Ivan Shchurok noted, it is gratifying that the number of younger students has been steadily increasing in recent years. However, the demographic problem remains significant. For comparison, in 1991, 190,000 children were studying in the region's schools, meaning the child population has decreased by 43% over the past period.
Teachers' Salaries Will Increase
A good gift for educators for the new academic year is differentiated salary increases. Ivan Shchurok reported that from September 1, bonuses for qualification categories will significantly increase. Thus, for the highest category, it will be 90% of the tariff salary (up to 1 million rubles), for the first – 55%, for the second – 30%. Methodologist teachers, of whom there are only 16 in the region so far, will receive a bonus of 120% of their salary. It should be noted that, in addition to pedagogical workers, employees of preschool educational institutions, orphanages, socio-pedagogical centers (including shelters), and so on, will have their salaries increased on the same principle. Also, heads of institutions, pedagogical workers without a qualification category, heads of physical education in general secondary education institutions, foster parents, and adoptive parents will have their tariff salary increased by 10%, assistant educators – by 20%, kitchen staff – by 10%. In general, the new method of calculating teachers' salaries will increase the average salary of teachers by 153-967 thousand rubles (6-28%).
In addition, Ivan Shchurok noted that thanks to the recent introduction of additional payments for teachers working under contracts (depending on the educational institution, they range from 20% to 50% of the official salary), the salaries of teachers in the Vitebsk region are now slightly inferior even to the capital. Thus, in Minsk, the average salary of pedagogical workers is 4.756 million rubles (for teachers – 4.912 million), and in our region – 4.529 million (4.781 million).
According to Ivan Shchurok, the sector is generally well-staffed with pedagogical personnel. 13,275 subject teachers work in the general secondary education system of the region, almost 80% of whom have the highest and first qualification categories. This academic year, 650 young specialists will arrive at educational institutions, but vacant positions remain. Schools still lack teachers of English and German, mathematics, and there are 150 vacant positions for educators in kindergartens. According to Ivan Shchurok, retired teachers, who make up about 10% of the workforce in this sphere, are helping out. Moreover, 75% of them work part-time.
– They are mentors for young teachers and university graduates who initially lack practical experience, – emphasized Ivan Antonovich. – Retired teachers are the backbone and golden fund of many educational institutions.
No problems with repairs
In 2014, the Regional Council of Deputies decided to increase funding for repair work in educational institutions through local taxes. It is planned to spend 151.6 billion rubles for these purposes, including 99.5 billion rubles for major repairs. More than 80 billion rubles have already been utilized. In general, the sector's budget is 3.7 trillion rubles, or 26% of the Vitebsk region's budget.
27 modern physics classrooms with a total cost of 10.4 billion rubles were purchased with funds from the Ministry of Education of Belarus. For the free transportation of children, the education department of the regional executive committee bought 9 buses, and the acquisition of 10 more vehicles is planned before September 1. In addition, OJSC "Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus" will provide sponsorship in the form of 11 school buses and 1 bus for transporting children with disabilities.
The construction of a 200-bed dormitory with a canteen for the Vitebsk Cadet School is nearing completion. By the end of the year, two residential buildings for families raising orphans and children left without parental care in the towns of Rossony and Sharkovshchina are scheduled for commissioning. Two preschool institutions are under construction in Orsha and the Orsha district, a nursery-kindergarten-primary school in Novopolotsk, and a basic school in the village of Litusovo, Senno district.
Features of optimization
This academic year, 473 educational institutions will open their doors in the Vitebsk region, which is fewer than last year. 22 of them were closed, and 31 were reorganized. More than 10,000 students will now be transported to their places of study.
According to Ivan Shchurok, in the current demographic situation, the optimization of the school network is an objective process.
– We never made hasty decisions, – emphasized Ivan Antonovich. – Before making the decision to close, we met many times, resolved issues with transporting children and employing staff. To this day, 13 small schools with no more than 25 students operate in the Vitebsk region. We did not close them, although we could have. At the same time, it turns out that the costs per student in schools in the Vitebsk region are the highest in the republic. But this is the specificity of the region. We have one school per 80 sq. km, while in the Minsk and Gomel regions it's per 70, and in other regions – per 50. Completely different distances. Moreover, it is clear that a rural school today is a center of culture and life.
Help for Children
As of August 15, employees of schools, social services, and medical institutions surveyed the living conditions of 20,612 low-income and large families raising over 30,000 schoolchildren. The main goal is to assess material security and readiness for the educational process. Based on the survey results, 2,584 families (5,106 children) have already received assistance totaling 2.7 billion rubles.
Charity events such as "Let's Pack a Schoolbag", "Share Your Warmth of Soul", and "Children Go to School" are also taking place throughout the region, during which thousands of children and their parents receive various types of assistance.
Alexander Kutynko, "Vitebskiye Vesti"