{"id":68687,"date":"2024-02-21T17:16:45","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T14:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=longreads&p=68687"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"system-failure-belarusian-education-in-crisis","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/68687\/","title":{"rendered":"System failure: Belarusian education in crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ale\u015b Hudzija

<\/em>Belarusian higher schools are going through hard times. Strategies chosen by officials can only make things worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n (freepik)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Big boss knows<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, strikes swept across European countries, and included kindergarten and teaching staff who demanded manageable workloads, social security and higher wages. The strikes were largely successful.

Whereas in the EU countries education problems are addressed based on signals coming from grassroots, in Belarus it is the other way around. Challenges are identified by top-level bureaucrats who send instructions down the command chain.

On February 13, at a conference with rectors, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka singled out five issues:

– A gap between supply and demand on the labor market
– University graduates emigrating abroad
– Young people reluctant to go into science and teaching
– Need to purge schools of disloyal teachers who stood up against regime in 2020
– Poor ideological and moral-building work with young people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the surface, the goals were clear and the tasks were defined. However, the Soviet-coined phrases, such as “remorseless inquest for performance,” “thinking in a state-like manner” and “we have preserved the best Soviet traditions” gives rise to strong doubts. The Soviet imperatives are unlikely to take education out of the crisis, just because they are responsible for it in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fewer students, scarce funding<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are many challenges at universities, but the five issues listed above contradict one another in many aspects. Some items are root causes, while the others are, in fact, an attempt to solve problems.

Minsk takes pride in preserving the education system built upon Soviet traditions, building new facilities and expanding the range of training aides and making higher education accessible. But data points to the opposite. For example, the number of students has shrunk both in absolute and relative terms.

University students in Belarus<\/strong>
Thousands
Per 10,000 people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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