Oral exam or CE? Sergeenko discussed education issues with teachers in Vitebsk
Organizational aspects of the entrance campaign, the necessity of reintroducing oral exams, and the optimal days for conducting the Centralized Examination (CE) – these were the issues discussed by the Head of the Belarus President Administration, Igor Sergeenko, with educators during a meeting in Vitebsk.
First and foremost, the Head of Administration was interested in how teachers perceived the innovation of the current graduation campaign, specifically the introduction of the Centralized Examination (CE). In general, educators noted that this system significantly eased the burden on graduating students, allowing them to focus on targeted preparation for the combined exams. Furthermore, students' motivation in choosing a specific profession has increased.
Among the proposals for improving the system of final examinations, Vitebsk teachers suggested conducting the CE with a gap of 2-3 days rather than a week, and on weekdays. School teachers, who this year constituted one-third of the CE commissions, had to work without days off throughout the entire examination period. At the same time, Dmitry Khoma, Head of the Main Department for Education of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, explained that in cities where these examinations were held at universities, organizing the CE on weekdays would be problematic due to the ongoing academic process there. Igor Sergeenko noted that this issue requires detailed consideration to find an acceptable solution.
Regarding the reintroduction of oral exams, which was mentioned by the Head of State at one of the meetings, educators consider it advisable to conduct them at least for foreign languages. This is because university freshmen, who prepared for test-based tasks, often face difficulties with active speaking. Moreover, dialogue with an applicant reveals their level of preparation and communication skills. In relation to the CE, teachers expressed positive views regarding its impartiality and objectivity of assessment.
The Head of the Presidential Administration also inquired about the progress of targeted training in the schools of the Vitebsk region, and how motivated students from pedagogical and agro-classes are to enroll in universities in their chosen specializations. Dmitry Khoma reported that in most cases, students from such specialized classes are focused on enrolling in their chosen field. He also recalled that the regional executive committee provides a supplement of Br1000 to the salary of young specialists – zootechnicians and veterinarians. The head of the department emphasized that this support measure was aimed at strengthening the prestige of agricultural professions. However, the number of specialists in this field in the region has not yet increased.
Students entering the 10th grade in the Vitebsk region constitute half of those who graduated from the 9th grade. As a rule, students with a low average grade in their basic education certificate choose secondary vocational and technical education institutions. Those remaining in schools, as Dmitry Khoma stated, are mainly aiming to enroll in universities.
The audience also discussed issues related to taking exams in individual subjects after the 9th and 11th grades. Educators, for example, expressed their views on the history of Belarus. On the one hand, ninth-graders who enroll in secondary vocational education institutions will take an exam in this subject there, and it will remain important for them in college. Graduates of secondary school, according to teachers, should take the history of Belarus as a mandatory subject, as they will only have a credit course in university later, and when taking exams, they approach preparation more seriously and have a better knowledge of their native country's history, which is an important element of patriotic education.
Igor Sergeenko noted that the range of issues raised by the Vitebsk educators was quite extensive and allowed for an outline of the situation in the education sector in the northern region.
Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by