How can we make our life more comfortable?

I’m far from looking for a magic stick to overcome all our challenges. To my thinking, all our challenges tend to revolve around the lack of population’s education, so we need to get in front of this immediately despite other priorities and restrictions.

Venture to suggest that today’s level of education thwarts our development instead of promoting it. Education is a challenging area. I don’t envy those seeking to change status and turn it in the right direction. The question is that the educational process reveals all features of society, good and bad, for this reason it cannot rest on laurels of a certain exclusive, highly educated part of society and consider the mission accomplished. What is at issue here is not chess with its high-quality intellectuals but rather a football to start playing in the yard. We are well aware of what our society is, so it is difficult to change our behavior standards that sometimes hamper our rational thinking.

However, it seems not to be impossible. A few months ago it seemed impossible for us to liberate a fifth part of our 30-years occupied territory in a matter of days. Who might say that our nation with its glorious past is incapable of distressing reforms?

At present, the education is a key to economic thriving. Nobody argues with that. Suffice it to say that the education is an ever growing added value and society’s predictability. In this respect a classic predefinition of the education as a key social product is founded on two ideas. Through investing in the education, the state is sure to ensure rise in labor productivity for sustained economic growth. Another, more important idea is an availability of competent voter capable of rendering a fateful decision when electing policy-makers. It may be argued that some successful democratic countries are faced with failures due to ill choices. In my view, this is the exception which proves the rule.

In other words, the education is none other than a good economic performance and competent society that keeps out of emotional, inconsiderate acts and mass rallies of thousands.

Back to our realities and try to get onto obstacles that prevent our new technocrats from reforming the education. Despite some productive projects, they are discontent with overall situation around educational processes. The quality of mass education leaves much to be desired.  Admittedly, there are critics ready to make hay of my assertions as saying that the situation is not very bad, there are some successes, time is required, etc.

It should be added that the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in charge of functional literacy of schoolchildren worldwide and their ability to apply it in practice takes place every three years and is attended by teenagers aged 15. The last index-2018 is illustrative that among 79 participating countries Azerbaijan is ranked 69. Note that mathematics showing was down from 2009. It is a consolation that Georgia is off Azerbaijan ranking 71. 

Beyond any doubts, even an impressive index cannot reflect a truthful overview; there is a huge distance between a theoretical knowledge and its practical application. Be this as it may, Singapore, China, South Korea and Estonia are ranked first in the index. 

Multifaceted process being notwithstanding, the education is in need of a certain prioritization, so it is is impossible to decline here from certain public management. On the other hand, an iron clad rule of effective management is a strict separation of role and responsibility for policy development and its subsequent implementation. This delicate balance has to be strictly followed.

To get an insight into the secondary school management today, it is suffice to look at any school and contact with a director, teachers and pupils (if any). A question of school is rhetoric, especially in the province. It remains unclear sometimes who is in charge here – ministry of education or legal executive power.

It has to be kept in mind that the education management is a state’s prerogative, so it is essential to make process operators sensible of responsibility not only to authorities but potential beneficiaries as well.      

It should be added that economic aspects of the process rest on resource availability. In other words, everything is dependent upon state’s potential to provide funds for education development. It turns out that funds are few and far. Note that this year’s specific weight of education spending is slightly above 11% of total volume of budgetary funds at worldwide average level of 14, 4 %.

Even these petty cash could work more effective in terms of net results as opposed to extensive support of the branch. Note that designing of qualitative and quantitative indicators to oversee changes in the education system might be an essential breakthrough for transfer of financing from extensive to performance areas.

It’d be appropriate to remind that a recent medium-term budget planning would be an effective helping hand, so it proved to be logical when the ministry of education had been selected out of 3 pilot ministries.

It ought to be noted that the ministry of education’s involvement in the project made it possible to lay out budgetary expenditures on the basis of strategic plans and thus put an end to inertial spending as was the case formerly. From now on, it’d be necessary to substantiate public funds for some years to come. Regretfully, the work has come to a halt. At least, an expected medium-term budget planning in the budget package- 2021 is lacking.  

We have already stood the thought that a more attractive model of the liberal economy gave way to the state capitalism, and that the authorities are unlikely to reject it in the nearest possible time. Given certain conditions, this might be the right way even despite some hurdles on this track. Presuming that the state capitalism is our brand, it is essential to clarify some issues directly arising from economic aspects and other educational issues.                      

I’d like to adduce some questions: Where are reasonable limits of big state-owned companies’ support: the point is that most of them receive more money from the state budget than make financial contribution thereto?  How can we identify comparative advantages of public investments prioritization in three main directions: infrastructure, sectoral support (for instance, agriculture) and innovations? How can we bring competitiveness element into our educational process (for instance, vouchers) to obtain effective results? And finally, what can we do to restore academic liberties and critical reasoning at our universities?

I’d be delighted if the thinking public start discussing the subject while the politicians are open to alternative arguments to thus improve the training atmosphere and perfect themselves.