All the shortcomings must be fixed by 1 September. It is also necessary to organize intensive work to address other systemic issues in the education system. Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko set very ambitious tasks in the wake of a government conference, BelTA has learned.

Top officials of the Council of Ministers, the Belarus President Administration, the Prosecutor General's Office, the State Control Committee, and the oblast administrations met to discuss in detail problems with getting education institutions ready for the new academic year. All the people responsible were given extremely tough tasks to address the issues by 1 September. All the education institutions will have to get readiness certificates by this deadline.

Despite the high percentage of education institutions, which are ready for the new academic year, instructions were given to reexamine all the schools in order to promptly address shortcomings instead of recording them.

Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko noted that six blocks of matters had been discussed during the conference. Including the readiness of education institutions (readiness certificates, sanitary and technical state), safety and security of students (access restrictions, fire safety, road safety), the organization of school meals, organization of student transportation to and from schools and the distribution of students across schools, financial support for orphans and other people in need, work on improving the quality of education materials.

“Extremely tough tasks were set as a result of the government conference. Top officials of oblast administrations assured that the remarks expressed by oversight agencies will be addressed before the academic year begins,” Roman Golovchenko noted.

The organization of school meals was given a lot of thought.

After a pilot project ran for six months, an opinion survey was conducted. Not only parents but the students themselves expressed a high level of support for the new meals. Food wastage dropped considerably. Meals became tastier, more versatile, and more wholesome. A significant amount of modern kitchen equipment was bought for the schools. All the decisions were made carefully on the basis of modern scientific approaches and sanitary and hygienic requirements. Apart from that, monetary limits were raised for kids in kindergartens, schools, colleges, and for orphans staying in boarding schools and family-type orphanages, the prime minister said.

Another matter the head of government drew attention to during the conference was the transportation of students from remote populated localities. Decisions were made to expedite the renewal of the school bus fleet.

Apart from that, Roman Golovchenko remarked that the safe stay of students in education institutions is an overriding priority. The Internal Affairs Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry have to do everything to ensure the safety and security of students. Steps will have to be taken including finishing the painting of the appropriate road markings, placing or replacing road signs, and making sure fire safety equipment is in working order. On the whole, a lot was done in the last few years to improve the level of safety and security of education institutions. It is necessary to finish this work.

“We've decided that the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry will promptly assist municipal authorities with fixing the worst problems of fire safety and road safety, which were revealed when the readiness of education institutions for the new academic year was inspected. And this work is already in progress. Participants of the conference admitted that the regulatory acts that have been adopted are sufficient and no additional legislation amendments are warranted. Issues concerning financial support of the education system have been fully addressed. Individual shortcomings are caused only by lingering connivance and the lack of discipline. Extreme mobilization of all the persons responsible in the time we have till the new academic year will be ensured,” the prime minister noted.

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