Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko: Post-election events prompted us to take youth education more seriously

MINSK, 5 February (BelTA) – The post-election events prompted the state to take the youth education more seriously, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with representatives of the country’s academic community on 5 February, BelTA has learned.

“The post-election events showed that we need to approach the education of our youth more seriously. Otherwise, we will face tremendous problems in the future. Unless we reverse the situation, we will come close to a war. I am afraid that against the backdrop of a geopolitical rift (we will probably return to this topic later at the meeting) we will not be able to stay afloat in the event of an internal discord and a kind of civil war: other players will definitely intervene. I often say that we should not let anyone turn Belarus into a battlefield where not our issues will be resolved,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

To illustrate his point, the head of state cited an example of Syria and Iraq, where geopolitical players are furthering their own interests, which has brought many years of suffering to these countries and peoples. “Oil is being pumped while bombs are going off and people are being killed,” he said.

“Therefore, we should take care not to create this chaos in the country with our own hands. Here a lot will depend on educators. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own point of view, their own opinion, and they should speak up. However, this should be done in the right place at the right time, without breaking the law. Whatever the law is, good or bad, a law is a law, it must be observed, lawyers will agree with me. If it is bad, it must be changed in accordance with the established procedure, not through street fighting,” the president said.

“I once again say that we will need to work a lot with our youth in order to keep them from going astray, because they have their whole life ahead of them. We will be gone, but they will remain. Where and how they will live now largely depends on us and on educators. It is not right when university teachers and students act as some kind of separate force to disorganize society and destroy the system that we have been building for a quarter of a century. This is very important,” Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.

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