MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Belarusian general secondary education system is 100 % ready for the new academic year. On September 1 about 2,600 schools will start classes for more than 1 million and 25 thousand students including 87 thousand first grade students.
School catering and improvement of the material base gain special attention. Major renovation works were conducted at 126 general secondary education institutions.

“Schools are 100 % ready for the new academic year. Starting September 1 school catering will be changed. Now schools must provide second breakfast for first shift students and an afternoon snack for second shift students. Financial expenses on catering were increased by 5%. In future, catering expenses will be indexed taking into account the consumer prices’ growth on groceries. Café menu was expanded and now it is allowed to install vending machines under strict control of the sanitary services” noted Deputy Education Minister Vladimir Dolzhenkov.

Four new school buildings will be commissioned in the new academic year. Approximately 1,600 school buses will be deployed to transport 55,000 students, operating on more than 5,000 routes.
Significant changes have also affected the curriculum.

"We are entering the academic year with updated approaches. A separate topic, 'Artificial Intelligence,' has been included in the 8th-grade computer science curriculum: students will learn how to formulate queries to neural networks and critically evaluate the reliability of the information they receive. Adjustments have also been made to pre-conscription and medical training: a section on unmanned aerial vehicles has been added, significantly increasing the proportion of practical classes," said Irina Karzhova, Head of the Department of General Secondary Education.

The education system is making a confident step toward digitalization. More than 300 schools are switching to the automated "Electronic School" system, and over 60 preschool institutions are switching to the "Electronic Kindergarten" platform.

“Digitalization is more than switch from paper to screen. It is about making of a comfortable environment where every participant of the education process gains all the necessary information by doing one click. We have also renovated the single information and education resource and now a teacher acts as an architect of the education process. Teacher can make unique lessons from ready-made digital blocks, can flexibly adjust the difficulty level of home tasks and use built-in chat for quick