By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The Culture Minister Anar Karimov has addressed the participants of the recruitment competition for children's music and art schools, Azernews reports.

In his speech, Anar Karimov touched upon the reforms implemented by the ministry in the culture in the last two years.

"We are in the transition phase to a system that meets modern standards. The Culture Ministry started reforms from music and art schools, because this area plays the role of a base, and here the foundation of the processes should be more solid and reliable. Those who participated in the meeting today are among the first of our reforms. We are very glad that the recruitment of teachers took place in such a transparent manner. The selection of teachers by this rule is the beginning of the process which strengthens the personnel potential in schools. We will continue this work in other areas in the future," he said.

The minister added that the projects, state programs, and reforms successfully implemented in the field of culture in recent years in Azerbaijan have created a foundation for the integration of Azerbaijani culture into the world.

He stressed that major work is being carried out in the country's culture field in accordance with presidential orders.

Speaking about the teacher recruitment process, the minister noted that the testing was held jointly with the State Examination Center on August 7, while the interview was on September 5-9.

"Out of 1,992 candidates who registered to participate in the test stage, 1,709 participated in the exam, and 482 of them received the required passing score and won the right to participate in the interview stage. Around 383 people registered for the announced vacancies and confirmed their participation in the interviews. Out of 352 people who participated in the interviews, 215 were successful in the competition by obtaining the required passing score. Some 126 of them (59 percent) have higher education, 89 (41 percent) have secondary education. Moreover, 8 visually impaired people were successfully employed as well," the minister said.

He noted that out of 215 successful candidates, Lala Ahmadova, a piano major graduate of the Baku Music Academy showed the highest result, which is 58 points from the test, and 15 points from the interview.

Solmaz Rahimova and Gultakin Javadova, graduates of Azerbaijan National Conservatory, are among the top three for high results.

Anar Karimov thanked the chairmen and members of the interview commissions for their work in conducting the competition at a high level.

The minister pointed out that he instructed the directors of children's art and music schools operating in Baku and the country's districts to give young teachers at least 24 hours of work, at the conference on "Reform processes in art schools: goals and achievements" held at the International Mugham Center on October 14.

The heads of regional departments were instructed to supervise this process.

At the end, Anar Karimov, who presented honorary decrees of the ministry to the teachers and members of interview commissions who scored high marks in the competition, wished them further success in their activities aimed at the development of Azerbaijani culture and education.