Lukashenko comments on prestige of teachers
Teacher is a person of the president, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said during the Nationwide Conference on Teaching on 27 August, BelTA has learned.
The president believes that it is futile to talk about the effectiveness of education without raising the prestige and authority of teachers and school administration. “A teacher should be more than a holy person at school! Therefore, we must do the best in this regard. First of all, you should do it, you [teachers] should want it, and we [authorities] should provide all possible support. A teacher is a person of the president. Therefore, a half of your workload is my workload. We will not allow anyone to leave teachers alone with the issues related to dysfunctional families, living conditions of socially vulnerable children, preventive and organizational work,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
"It is unacceptable at all that prosecutors and state control go to some schools more often than education inspectors," the Belarusian leader noted. The hall applauded this statement.
He stated that the prestige of any profession implies decent wages. "For the first time in Belarus’ history, we are close to the national average in terms of salaries. The arithmetic here is simple: you prepare competitive specialists, the economy grows and your income rises," the president said.