The republic has many programs to reward students for special academic achievements. This is how a person’s work is assessed. And it doesn’t matter that he’s still a schoolboy

EDUCATION HOW TO KNOW HOW

Do you remember the wonderful Ryazanov film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath”? There, the main character Zhenya Lukashin says that the profession of a school teacher is akin to the specialty of a surgeon. Both of them may well either save a person or cripple him. But the results of a teacher’s work in comparison with a doctor’s are not immediately noticeable. How fair is this comparison, I asked the Minister of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan Faris Fakhrazovich KHARISOV.

“I’ll tell you that if a primary school teacher manages to love children and make the children love him, then everything will be fine,” says the minister. - Well, a bad teacher can really very easily ruin a child’s destiny. But still, it is precisely thanks to the wise behavior of the teacher that the child’s fate very often changes for the better.

— Recently, we often hear that teachers are not paid on time and so on. How are things going with these issues in the republic?

- Well, at least we pay salaries on time. It’s good that now there is still the necessary attention from the President and the Government of the republic, which, by the way, other regions of the country cannot always boast of.

— To what extent is religion really separated from education in Tatarstan, a republic that, in the words of State Advisor Timur Yuryevich Akulov, is still perceived abroad as Islamic? How do you feel about the Islamic University gaining the right to issue secular higher education diplomas?

— Education in our country is, of course, separated from religion. Well, the idea of the Islamic University to gain the right to also issue secular diplomas of higher education, in my opinion, is good. After all, it will only benefit society if a person who has received a religious education and teaches in a religious institution also has a secular diploma. This will broaden his horizons, he will understand more problems and will not be confined only to religious culture. However, at the same time, there is now some kind of incomprehensible trend in the field of education. The opinion that a teenager’s education will be incomplete if he does not receive, in addition to a traditional secular education, also a religious one, is increasingly making itself felt. Of course, there is nothing wrong with such an idea, but today it is not yet entirely clear what all this can lead to. After all, it is far from a fact that religious leaders can currently carry out full-fledged educational work. We approach this issue differently. We have organized a special laboratory in which religious figures give lectures on the history of religion to both schoolchildren and our teachers, explaining to them what traditional confessions and various sects are. We also publish various manuals and tutorials on these issues. As a result, we give the right to districts and schools to teach the optional subject “History of Religion” through the variable part of the curriculum. But only those teachers who are truly prepared for this activity have the right to teach this subject. And in Tatarstan, in order to maintain calm in this area of social relations, we cannot act otherwise. In general, we are big supporters of the use of religious values in education, because these are, for the most part, universal, human values.

— One of the most pressing issues in the education sector in Tatarstan is the problem of transition to the Latin alphabet. Please comment on this situation.

— This question, of course, is not easy and requires serious preparation. This school year, for example, we conducted an experiment: in each district, in one class (in the second and third grades), lessons were taught using the Latin alphabet for one hour a week. The experiment showed that, in principle, children learn the material well. We conducted a so-called control section based on the Latin script and on the Cyrillic alphabet, which showed that children still make more mistakes in texts using the Latin alphabet, but we should not forget that they studied according to this program for only one hour a week. And this idea certainly has prospects. After all, someone needs to take the first step in this direction. A step towards a more perfect alphabet, towards more perfect spelling rules, and our society is gradually preparing for this. But such reforms, of course, cannot be carried out at once. Based on the results of an experiment like the one we organized, it’s a different matter. In any case, our schoolchildren are very interested in learning the Tatar language based on the Latin alphabet. And many of them say that it is much more interesting to learn the Tatar language using the Latin alphabet.

— Will the transition to the Latin alphabet help Tatarstan integrate more quickly into world culture and politics?

- Practice will show. But it is a fact that this will contribute to the learning of foreign languages.

— Tell us about contacts with other regions that the republic’s leadership supports in the area of education.

— Recently, the number of such connections has begun to increase, and other regions have also begun to come to the conclusion that contacts through education, as a rule, are very useful. For example, in recent years we have begun to conduct targeted work primarily with those regions where Tatars live compactly. We have signed agreements with such regions. For example, recently our delegation traveled to Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, the Ulyanovsk, Saratov and Samara regions. There we gave open lessons for Tatar language teachers and “health lessons.” Of course, we went out before, but then there was no practice of open lessons on our part. And this, I think, is a very useful practice for all teachers. No wonder it is very well received in all the mentioned regions. Teachers from other regions also come to us. In general, this practice brings the regions much closer together and contributes to the creation of a special model for the operation of the education system in Russia.

— Are there any innovative approaches developed in the republic in relation to working with children, your know how?

— We have language camps for Tatar children living outside of Tatarstan. This is the fourth year we have been holding such camps and receiving applications from parents of children to participate in them from various regions of our country. Children even come from Murmansk. And if previously only children of Tatar nationality came to such camps, now we invite everyone. Let them come into contact with the Tatar language, Tatar culture. Moreover, parents only have to pay for travel, but the maintenance of children in the camp is at our expense. Since 1998, we have had a School Health Program. We are doing a lot of work in this area. After all, the Ministry of Education should think not only about the intellectual health of the younger generation, but also about their physical health. We still managed to stir up teaching in this direction. It’s good, by the way, that the importance of this problem has now been realized at the federal level. In addition, we recently held the First Republican Sunday School Meeting. More than a thousand children attend Sunday schools in Tatarstan.

— I heard that you actively attract university teachers to work with schoolchildren.

- This is true. Many of the scientists have their own schools assigned to them and contracts have been concluded. And, in particular, over the last three years in particular, they have been systematically preparing our children for subject Olympiads - republican, all-Russian, international. And we have good results: if in 1998 there were eight winners of the All-Russian Olympiads from Tatarstan, then this year there are thirty. Eight gifted children of the republic, winners of international and Russian Olympiads, competitions, and festivals, became scholarship recipients of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, including Elena Vakhromova (gymnasium No. 3 of Zelenodolsk) was awarded a scholarship from the President of Russia for the second time. In addition, in various cities of the republic there are many incentive programs in the form of scholarships for students who achieve special success in certain subjects. This is how we evaluate a person’s work. And it doesn’t matter that he’s still a schoolboy.

— That is, with your activities you demonstrate how you can correct the mistakes that other secondary and higher educational institutions in Russia often make, when they give first places to some students and then forget about them. You take them to the university, right?

- Exactly. And we are still awaiting results in this direction. This, by the way, is evidenced by the constantly increasing number of gold medals among graduates of secondary schools in our republic. And this despite the fact that the requirements for receiving these medals are becoming more stringent every year.

— By the way, how do you feel about the idea of introducing a system of unified state exams for admission to universities?

— For now, the rectors of the republic’s universities are thinking about this issue. What they decide remains to be seen. We, for our part, have decided to hold such a unified exam so far only in the Tatar language, the results of which can be counted for admission to those faculties where this subject is taken as an entrance exam. In general, this decision depends on the federal Ministry of Education.

— It is probably difficult to maintain parity in relations with many university rectors in a city such as Kazan, famous for its universities?

- Of course, it’s not easy. Well, in general, we can say that we are doing creative work.

Mikhail DOVZHENKO