Education in Belarus is free at all levels except for higher education. [1] The government ministry that oversees the running of the school systems is the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus. Each of the regions inside Belarus has oversight of the education system, and students may attend either a public (state) or a private school. The current structure of the educational system was established by decree in 1994. The education system is also based on The Education Code of the Republic of Belarus and other educational standards. [2]
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) [3] finds that Belarus is fulfilling 90.8% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. [4] HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Belarus' income level, the nation is achieving 85.2% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education and 96.3% for secondary education. [5]
Pre-school education is not compulsory in Belarus, but around 70% of children attend kindergarten (at the ages of 3 to 5) before they start school. [6] Nursery (at the ages 1 to 2) is also available but it's not as popular as kindergarten because maternity leave in Belarus lasts 3 years and many children stay at home till 3 years.
Some kindergartens are specialized to work with psycho-physically challenged children to help them socialize.
Very few kindergartens work in Belarusian language, and some parents experience difficulties trying to find a Belarusian-speaking kindergarten. [7]
Education in primary and secondary schools is required for children from the ages of six until fifteen and lasts for 9 years. After finishing basic education, each student must pass the basic educational curriculum and is given a certificate by the state. Then students are able to enter a professional technical institutions where they can focus on completing their high school education and study to get a professional certificate.
Completion of 11 years of school or a professional certificate allows students to enter higher educational establishments or enter professional technical institutions as well; the length of the schooling depends on what the student has chosen. [6]
The majority of children are educated in Russian language, some regions have no schools working in Belarusian language. [7]
Belarusian schools use administrative resource to drag the pupils into the state-controlled BRSM youth union. [8] [7]
Higher education has been in constant growth since 1991. In 2011, 4,725 per 10,000 citizens were undergraduates. Belarus has also adopted the ECTS system, allowing more student mobility. [9] Belarus counts 55 higher education institutions (45 state-owned, 10 private).
To enter a higher educational establishment a student must pass three centralized tests (and get up to 100 points per test). [10]
There are two leading establishments of higher education in the national education system:
In 2020–2021, several teachers were fired for political reasons from universities. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Ethnologist Uladzimir Lobač claimed that he was fired after Natalya Kochanova and Ihar Marzaliuk threatened the Polack State University not to certify it. [15]
A number of students who participated in the protests or openly expressed their civil position were expelled. [16] [17] [18] [19] A number of expelled students were forced to leave the country [15]
A ten-point grading scale has been used since 2002. It is used in primary, secondary and higher education.
The grading scale is divided into five levels:
Level | Grade | Russian equivalent [2] |
---|---|---|
High | 10 | 5+ |
9 | 5 | |
Good | 8 | 4+ |
7 | 4 | |
Average | 6 | 4- |
5 | 3+ | |
Satisfactory | 4 | 3 |
3 | 3- | |
Low | 2 | 2 |
1 | 1 |
Marks "1" and "2" are considered as "Fail" at school. In higher education, "3" is also considered as "Fail".
Belarus has been a member of Bologna Process since May 2015. The country left the Bologna Process in 2022
The education in Suriname was initially set up in analogy to the Dutch education system. In terms of structure, the education system is now a mixture of school types that were common in the Netherlands before, during and after the Mammoetwet. The language of instruction is Dutch; mainly Surinamese Dutch. The four exceptions to this rule are the International Academy of Suriname, administered by a local Christian foundation, Christian Liberty Academy, administered by the Caribbean Christian Ministries, and the AlphaMax Academy, a private nonsectarian school administered by the AlphaMax Foundation, and since 2011 Suriname International School, which provides k12 online school for high school students.
Education in Colombia includes nursery school, elementary school, high school, technical instruction and university education.
Education in Bulgaria is guided and overseen by Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. Compulsory education includes three years of pre-primary education, primary education, and secondary education. The schools start by age of seven and end the age of 18. Compulsory education at state schools is free of charge. The state and private higher education schools, colleges and universities charge fees, although they offer students scholarships.
Education in Montenegro is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Science of Government of Montenegro.
Following independence from the Soviet Union, a major economic depression cut "public financing" for education in Kazakhstan, "which dropped from 6% of gross domestic product in 1991 to about 3% in 1994, before rising to 4% in 1999. Elementary- and secondary-school teachers remain badly underpaid; in 1993 more than 30,000 teachers left education, many of them to seek more lucrative employment.
Education in Chad is challenging due to the nation's dispersed population and a certain degree of reluctance on the part of parents to send their children to school. Although attendance is compulsory, only 68% of boys continue their education past primary school, and over half of the population is illiterate. Higher education is provided at the University of N'Djamena.
Practically all children attend Quranic school for two or three years, starting around age five; there they learn the rudiments of the Islamic faith and some classical Arabic. When rural children attend these schools, they sometimes move away from home and help the teacher work his land.
Education in Kyrgyzstan is compulsory for nine years, between ages seven and 15. Following four years of primary and five years of lower secondary school, the system offers two years of upper secondary school, specialized secondary school, or vocational/technical school.
Education in Tajikistan consists of four years of primary school followed by two stages of secondary school. Attendance at school is mandatory from age seven to seventeen. In accordance with the Law on Higher Education and Professional Postgraduate Education the country provides for the following levels of higher education:
During Alfredo Stroessner Mattiauda’s presidency (1954–89), education initiatives took a backseat to economic concerns and the task of controlling political adversaries, and teacher salaries fell to extremely low levels. The constitution of 1992 attempted to remedy the long neglect of education. Article 85 of the constitution mandates that 20% of the government budget be designated for educational expenditures. This measure, however, has proven to be impractical and has been largely ignored.
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Education in St. Lucia is primarily based on the British education system and is provided in public and private schools.
The Ecuadorian Constitution requires that all children attend school until they achieve a “basic level of education,” which is estimated at nine school years.
Benin has abolished school fees and is carrying out the recommendations of its 2007 Educational Forum. In 2018, the net primary enrollment rate was 97 percent. Gross enrollment rate in secondary education has greatly increased in the last two decades, from 21.8 percent in 2000 to 59 percent in 2016, 67.1 percent in the case of males and 50.7 percent for females. Because of a rapid increase in the enrollment rate, the student/teacher ratio rose from 36:1 in 1990 to 53:1 in 1997 but has dropped again in the last years to 39:1 (2018). In 2018, the gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education was 12.5%.
Public education in the Central African Republic is free, and education is compulsory from ages 6 to 14. AIDS-related deaths have taken a heavy toll on teachers, contributing to the closure of more than 100 primary schools between 1996 and 1998.
Education in Lesotho has undergone reforms in recent years, meaning that primary education is now free, universal, and compulsory.
Education in Niger, as in other nations in the Sahelian region of Africa, faces challenges due to poverty and poor access to schools. Although education is compulsory between the ages of seven and fifteen, with primary and secondary school leading into optional higher education, Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. With assistance from external organizations, Niger has been pursuing educational improvement, reforming how schools utilize languages of instruction, and exploring how the system can close gender gaps in retention and learning.
Education in Togo is compulsory for six years. In 1996, the gross primary enrollment rate was 119.6 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 81.3 percent. Primary school attendance rates were unavailable for Togo as of 2001.
Primary school education in Fiji is compulsory, and subsidized for eight years. In 1978, the gross primary enrollment ratio was 113.5 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 97.7 percent. As of 2009, attendance was decreasing due to security concerns and the burden of school fees, often due to the cost of transport. In 2013, the Bainimarama government made education at the primary and secondary level in Fiji free for all students. Fiji has since achieved universal access to primary education.
Education in Kiribati is free and compulsory from age 6 to 14, which includes primary school through grade six, and Junior Secondary School for three additional grade levels. In 1998, the gross primary enrollment rate was 84.4 percent, and net primary enrollment rate was 70.7 percent. School quality and access to education are better in urban areas; schools in small communities on isolated islands are expensive to maintain. Mission schools are slowly being absorbed into the government primary school system.
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