Once again on the quality of education

The press and social networks are full of critical articles and reviews about the Ministry of Education. The negative is off scale. Dissatisfied with everything - from the content of school textbooks to the quality of education in universities. But journalists do not let representatives of the Ministry of Education speak, and they do not want to go to microphones either. Turan decided to fill an obvious gap and agreed to meet with the press secretary of the Ministry of Education, Jasaret Valehli.

- What are the causes of the crisis of popular confidence in secondary school? If it is not so, parents would not hire tutors ...

- I would not say that the people do not believe in schools at all, but there really is a problem. The Ministry resolves it consistently. What to take from a poor teacher who receives a low salary? To ensure that worthy and competent teachers receive more money in 2015 in Baku and 12 districts, a diagnostic assessment of school teachers was conducted. Teachers passed the test exams for proficiency. As a result, the salary of 100,000 teachers has been raised. Until the end of this year, all teachers in the country will undergo diagnostic evaluation, and from January 1 of next year the salary of all school teachers will increase by 35%.

Since last year, the regional authorities have been suspended from administrative custody of schools. Each teacher with a certain length of time can submit an electronic application, take an examination, take training and participate in the competition. In 2016 in Baku, Ganja, Sumgayit, Absheron and five other districts, having passed exams and winning the contest among 180 applicants became directors of 27 teachers.

The Ministry of Education checked and identified about a thousand teachers whose higher education diplomas were fake, did not reflect the level of existing knowledge or issued by questionable universities. It was difficult to get rid of such cargo of past years, but having suffered a lot of tears, complaints and newspaper accusations, the ministry settled the problem.

- Now all children must undergo preschool education in kindergartens, come to the first classes prepared. What is being done for this?

- Expanding the coverage of children with preschool education, which is important for the child's subsequent school life, his ability to absorb knowledge. In 2016-17 in 2795 schools of the country, in the 4410 groups created there for preschool education almost 87000 children were involved. If in 2015 only 24% of all children of five-year-olds managed to attract preschool education, in 2016 this figure increased to 55%, that is, in addition, about 50000 children will come to school prepared.

- The press reported on the revival of former Soviet vocational schools ...

- A network of professional secondary schools is being revived in Azerbaijan. Their popularity is growing, especially in rural areas. Here, too, an important innovation: the Agency for Professional Education was created. If earlier the admission to such schools was actually carried out solely by their director, and we all understand how and for how much, since last year applicants in Baku and Ganja apply to a special project of ASAN Peşə, report their data and intentions and if they meet the established requirements, become students of the school. The new experience will be studied and disseminated throughout the country.

Cəsarət Valehli

- Let's return to secondary schools, where the vast majority of our children study. What can you say about the quality of education in schools?

Gradually, the quality of schooling improves. The figures speak about this. At the final exams in the 9th and 11th grades, entrance examinations to higher educational institutions, the growth in the number of satisfactory grades increased by 17% (9 class) and 2% (11 class) over the last 5 years. According to the statistics of the State Examination Center (State Commission for Admission of Students), the dynamics of the growth of passing points recorded during the entrance examinations to universities for 2016/2017 academic year is noted. If in 2014 during the entrance exams 32159 (34.7%) of the entrants scored more than 200 points, in 2015 more than 200 points were able to score 33,198 (40%), and in 2016 this figure was 34,385 (43.8% %).

The Azerbaijani are regions the graduates of which showed the lowest knowledge at the entrance exams. The work done in these areas gave fruits. In 2015/2016, ninth-graders in Astara showed a 22% increase in knowledge, in Agjabadi - 15%, in Sabirabad - 14%, in Masalli - 11%. In Jalilabad and Saatli, the growth of estimates is fixed at 9%. For five years the average score gained by applicants grew from 177 to 209.

- Very often parents are indignant over the complexity of the questions asked from the students. They complain that they cannot understand what the teachers ask the children, although the parents have at least a complete secondary education.

- Why should children remember a huge number of dates, titles, numbers, etc., when all this is easy to find by pressing a couple of buttons in the cell phone? Modern man is strong not in the cramming unnecessary information, but in the ability to think logically, independently to find the right decision. For this, students must learn to use modern information technology. This is the so-called "open questions", and the whole set of new methods of teaching and assessing students 'knowledge is collected in the parents' irritating concept of "curriculum". The new system of teaching, subjects and evaluation is fundamentally different from what parents saw in the Soviet school.

The Ministry of Education does not refuse test exams and does not pretend to have a monopoly in the issue of final school examinations and admission exams to universities (another "duck" of the press has been exposed), but believes that the state structure conducting the test examinations should gradually refuse to present questions to children, memorizing and cramming. In examinations, it is necessary to identify the ability of graduates, university entrants and students to independently think, find information and use it.

For the last 6 years, 111 pupils of Azerbaijani schools have received medals in international olympiads on school subjects. Last year we had 26 winners. And in the republican olympiads in 2016 more than 27000 students took part.

In 2016, more than 30000 students of the 6th grade checked their knowledge on the test exams.

More than 7,200 students receive education in specialized, or specialized classes, in which preference is given to certain subjects. In 2016, there were 324 such classes in 124 schools. For a year, the growth is two times.

Over 6 million textbooks were published in the republic last year. In addition to printed textbooks, students and teachers can use virtual technical training tools - many websites and electronic textbooks created by specialists of the Ministry have been opened.

- How do objective foreign expert organizations evaluate the work of the ministry?

- Azerbaijani schools began to cooperate with European companies involved in assessing the knowledge of schoolchildren. In the field of general education, there are three main programs for international assessment and comparison of the quality of education among the participating countries - PIRLS, PISA and TIMSS. Azerbaijan's participation in all three programs, which mutually complement each other, provides more complete information about the education system, assessing its various aspects.

Every five years, Azerbaijan participates in an international study on the quality of reading and comprehension of text by students of the fourth grade - Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). The main objective of the PIRLS study is a comparative assessment of the level of reading quality and understanding of the text by primary school students in different countries of the world. In the past in April-May 2016, the study involved students from 170 educational institutions. The results were sent to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the coordinating program. The results will be announced in 2017.

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) - International study on the evaluation of mathematical literacy and literacy in reading and science among 15-year-old students. Studies are conducted every 3 years. The next one will be held in 2018. The main task of the PISA study is to identify whether students of 15 years of age have the functional knowledge and skills necessary in modern living conditions. The test is organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a consortium with leading international scientific organizations. Azerbaijan will take part in it.

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) - an international study on assessing the quality of education of students in the 4th and 8th grades, is held every 4 years. The main goal of the TIMSS study is to evaluate the educational achievements in mathematics and science of students in the 4th and 8th grades. The program is coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The next TIMSS study will be held in 2019. Azerbaijan will take part in it.

- After receiving a school diploma, graduates are sent to universities. Then it turns out that the quality of education in the university does not meet the requirements of production.

- We managed to stop the work of fictitious and frankly weak universities, engaged in the actual sale of diplomas.

Last September, at the University of Oil and Industry, a new university was established at the University of Oil and Industry on the basis of cooperation with two French universities: the UFAZ, which prepares oil engineers, IT specialists, geophysicists, and chemical engineers. These are the professions required by Azerbaijani industry and highly paid all over the world. Last year, out of 303 students, 160 passed a competition and enlisted in the UFAZ. At the end of the university, graduates will have double diplomas of Azerbaijan and France. At 11 universities, groups of gifted SABAH students were created, in which 2,300 young people study under special programs, receiving separate state support. For 390 children and girls from such groups summer camps are organized in the universities of Sorbonne Abu Dhabi and London.

The number of Azerbaijani students receiving education abroad under the state program reached 3558 people.

The authority of the school teacher's profession is growing. Last year, after passing the tests, more than three thousand graduates received the status of a teacher. This is more than in 2015, when after 2879 young teachers got jobs after passing exams. The most interesting thing is that of the applicants who scored more than 500 points at the entrance exams, 977 people decided to become school teachers!

The Ministry of Education is the largest in terms of the number of employees. In Azerbaijan, 4,457 schools, 145,720 teachers and more than 1 million and 473000 secondary school students; 113 professional colleges with 25,126 students. This year36 057 bachelors and 5 692 masters will graduate from the 42 Azerbaijani universities. It is impossible to improve cardinally such a huge machine in two years, even over five years. But hard work in the ministry has been launched and is continuing successfully.