Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko: A textbook is an icon for me

MINSK, 2 September (BelTA) – At the Q&A session titled “Open Microphone with the President” at Vitebsk State University on 2 September Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko explained why he is so demanding to the quality of textbooks, BelTA has learned.

Before the Q&A session, Aleksandr Lukashenko gave his take on the state of things in the education sector. The head of state emphasized that revolutions in the system are already over. Many new things have been tried in recent years, because it was necessary to restructure the work of this sector after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“There have been many cases in my life when I had to get textbooks reworked by experts: “Make a good textbook. For me, a textbook is an icon. A textbook is the basis of learning. It should be an ultimate guide to a discipline. And we have reworked these textbooks many, many times. I won't say that I am satisfied, I start thinking that maybe I am too demanding to those who write these textbooks. Maybe they [textbooks] should be like this... It seems to me that when I was a student, textbooks were simpler and easier to understand,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

“If the language in a textbook is too academic and you have to read a paragraph twice, it kills enthusiasm and desire to study this subject. Therefore, you just need to convey complex knowledge in a comprehensive form to a schoolchild, a student. And this is the hardest thing. Very few people can do this. This is how I approach the writing of our textbooks and teaching aids,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

A new textbook on modern political economy was presented to the head of state at the university. In this regard, the president mentioned the transformation of economics curricula in Belarus: the Western approach was taken as a basis, and this knowledge was simply “foisted” onto a country. “Had we gone this way in Belarus (and many countries that do not have such a huge resource potential have gone this way), we would have perished. Then I appointed a former economy minister as rector giving him one task: to put an end to the collapse of education, to tell our people what we need, and this will be the right thing to do,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

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