The Ministry of Education renamed. What will it change?

Baku/29.07.22/Turan: The  day before, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree "On some measures related to the improvement of management in the field of science and education in the Republic of Azerbaijan". According to the document, the Ministry of Education was renamed the Ministry of Science and Education.

The department is entrusted with the implementation of state policy and regulation in the scientific field, coordination of the activities of scientific institutions and organizations. Under the Ministry, the State Agency for Science and Education and the State Agency for Preschool and General Education have been established.

By the next Decree of the President, the institutions of the National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), its Nakhchivan and Ganja branches, as well as economic enterprises of ANAS were transferred to the Ministry of Science and Education. Thus, the system of the Academy of Sciences inherited from the Soviet Union was actually abolished.

Education expert Nabatali Gulamoglu  answered  questions related to these structural changes in the “Difficult Question” program. According to him, the issue of structural changes in the national education system has two backgrounds - political and educational.

“In the United States, education has long been the responsibility of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It was only in 1979, when the US population exceeded 225 million people, that a completely autonomous Ministry of Education (Department of Education) was formed in this country. All this is an indicator of how thrifty and rational the use of financial resources is by Americans.

According to Gulamoglu, such a compact country as Azerbaijan does not need a separate Ministry of Education at all.

“Such a structure as the Ministry of Science and Education is quite enough. From this point of view, I consider the Decree of the President to be absolutely correct. Moreover, he was late with this Decree, it should have been issued much earlier,” he said.

According to Gulamoglu, the State Agency for Science and Higher Education and the State Agency for Preschool and General Education, which will be created under the Ministry of Science and Education, are absolutely necessary.

“They are the ones who will implement the government's pre-school policy, as well as the national secondary education policy. Touching upon the political background of the Decrees of the President, he did not rule out that this could be the result of a "battle of bulldogs under the rug."

“Above, we noted the frugality of the Americans and their ability to use financial resources rationally. In our country, in order to appoint someone to a position, states are created for this person. And vice versa, if someone becomes objectionable, then the position and even the whole organization can be abolished. It is possible that what is happening with ANAS is a manifestation of this practice,” he said, adding that until a certain point the country was ruled by a “triuvirate” consisting of Ramiz Mehdiyev, Ramil Usubov and Ali Hasanov.--0--