Let’s talk about education

Education is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills and ha­bits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training and research. When a person is young, they need teachers to help them become a literate and educated person.

Our country has a well-regarded education system. Pre-school edu­cation is not compulsory in Belarus but around 70% of children attend nursery or kindergarten before they start school. According to our Con­stitution every person has a right to a school place for a child from the age of 6 or 7. These places are provided free of charge. Primary and ba­sic secondary school education is compulsory. All students must follow the basic education curriculum up to the age of 15, and the majority of them stay at school until they finish secondary school at 17. Children study at school for 9 years then they may either continue their education at school or go to colleges and vocational schools. There is a wide choice of schools, colleges, vocational schools, universities and acad­emies to suit all tastes, income and inclinations. There is also postgradu­ate education which gives students opportunity to do research and get an MA, MSc and PhD.

In my view, the main principles of the educational system in our country are the priority of human values, national culture as the basis for education, humanism, scientific basis and support of gifted children. Any person can get the high-quality education according to their abilities and inclinations.

It’s common knowledge that the success of school education de­pends mainly on the teachers, their professional skills, the kind of rela­tionship they can establish with pupils. The task of school is not only to pass some information. Children’s characters and perception of the world are formed here.

A modem person has to know where and how to get information and knowledge in order to have a good job and be a success. People have to get education during all their lives.