Azerbaijani education official: Individuals who do not even deserve title of student study in country's universities

Final exams have been held in a centralized manner in the country’s secondary school for the last several years. Does a new mechanism provide admission of only  best applicants to higher schools?

Parents of school graduates in our country are shocked at the idea that their children may graduate from school without a certificate. They got used to the fact teachers help children with bad grades to pass to next grades. When someone's child suddenly is left without a certificate, they make a global problem out of it. Hence there are individuals in universities who simply do not even deserve title of a student. We want to stop it, and final exams held in the centralized order in secondary schools are direct way to do so.

We visited Israel together with colleagues several years ago. Within a few weeks, we got familiar with country’s education system and experience of academic work. In a conversation with a secondary schools director, we learned about experience of the graduating class. He told us that 41 percent of graduates of the school he led did not receive school-leaving certificates that year and both parents and graduates themselves reacted to it predictably. But Azerbaijani parents almost picket outside our offices in such cases.

Did you achieve your goal, namely, to increase responsibility of school children to their studies, in particular, to exams?

The past few years have seen very positive changes in our secondary schools. The children  prepare for exams more seriously. This shows results of final exams.

Maybe our school children have come to realize that their later life depend only on themselves and they should not rely on their parents.

Moreover, teachers should also have responsibility. Our methods allow to assess level of knowledge and skills of not only school children, but also teachers. If the latter do not meet requirements, more serious measures will be taken against against them.

Education experts argue that final exams may acquire the status of unified state examination in future which enables school graduates to obtain both a certificate and get admitted to a higher school. How is this possible?

Uniform State Exam (USE) is a system to assess knowledge of graduates which is successfully implemented in Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries.

The test results are recognized as results of final state certification by institutions of secondary general education and as results of entrance examinations by higher education institutions and vocational schools.

This will help protect health of students who are now forced to take two practically identical tests at different times and experience stress each time.

Both public and non-governmental bodies can be charged with conducting a single test as in case of Georgia. It is necessary to thoroughly prepare for the new system, and then it can be safely tested out.

How will the issue of age qualification of teachers be resolved?

The Law on Secondary Education is being developed. The law will cover issues related to social status, age and salary of teachers.

The new law "On Education" indicates 65 years as age limit. But this does not mean that teachers will be sent to retirement once they reach this age. There are quite large number of physically healthy teachers who work in our schools, and despite their age they are able to lead classes at a high level. I believe that each case must be approached individually.

R. Ashrafli