{"id":134711,"date":"2025-04-17T20:03:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/134711\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"education-minister-defends-soviet-education-critical-of-european-universities","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/134711\/","title":{"rendered":"Education minister defends Soviet schools, critical of European universities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Andrej Ivaniec\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Belarus 1 \/ Screenshot by Pozirk)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

April 17, Pozirk. <\/em><\/strong>European universities offer poorer training compared to Belarusian higher education facilities, Education Minister Andrej Ivaniec has told the state-run Belarus 1<\/em> TV channel, citing his ministry\u2019s numerous refusals to recognize European university degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This statement stood in contrast to his argument in the same interview that the education ministry is working hard to convince Belarusian graduates of foreign universities to return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s nothing shameful and scary in getting an education somewhere abroad and to return home . . . to maintain the link with the motherland \u2013 that’s the most important thing,\u201d Ivaniec said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official also praised Belarus for preserving the Soviet system of education. \u201cThere’s nothing wrong with it, it’s absolutely normal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the Soviet school that allowed us to fly into space, to advance technological development and be a world leader. Today, the fundamental difference between our school and, for example, the American school is a wide range of subjects and their depth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the crackdown on 2020 postelection protests in Belarus, reprisals targeted science and education, among other fields. Students, teachers and researchers have often been expelled, imprisoned or forced into exile, while Russification and indoctrination practices picked up pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondary schools started teaching military and patriotic classes as the government expanded the ideological component, including monthly lectures on genocide against Belarusians for students of all grades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, three major private Belarusian universities operating since the 1990s terminated admissions and announced closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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