A SCHOOL CLOSE AT HAND?

The debates on the acceptance of first-grade children to secondary schools on a competitive basis, which started to be applied in 2011, are still going on. The bewildered parents of children who had already been accepted to the schools sighed with relief, whereas others, whose children will literally have to undertake a really searching and difficult examination, continue to be puzzled. What's the point of children answering questions, the answers to which they are bound to get in school itself? they say.  And why then teach them in the first grade? We will not go into lengthy discussions about whether the introduction of this directive is right or wrong. All we will say is that holding this examination brings yet another problem - the children who fail this test will have to go to schools provided for "underachieving pupils" which are located a long way from their homes.

But, apparently, the Education Ministry has decided to make it easier for those who fail the examination to the first grade. The Trend agency was told that extra classes for pupils who live near vocational schools and high schools in Azerbaijan will be opened at these educational establishments. The pupils for these establishments will also be accepted on the basis of an examination. But the children who fail the examination will be accepted in extra classes especially created for them in establishments which are close to their homes. This will prevent parents from having to take their child to a school for "under-achievers" at the back of beyond.

The proposal to open an extra class in secondary, vocational and high schools for children living in the vicinity was presented to the country's Education Ministry by the Institute of Educational Problems and so far no specific decisions on it have been taken. But there is still a hope that this question will be considered and approved.

It will be recalled that according to the relevant document, physically and mentally healthy children who will be six by 15 September will be accepted in the first grade of secondary general-education schools. The question of acceptance to the first grade of children born at the end of October is being examined by school commissions, and those born in November by the Education Ministry. Despite the negative attitude of parents to this practice, the ministry supports the competitive selection of children to secondary schools for acceptance to first grades because, according to the concept of the country's educational department, a new model of teaching the younger generation is currently being organized. Its basic objectives are the essence of the national curriculum engrained in the secondary schools. 

The Education Ministry believes that in these conditions the demands on first grade pupils have also changed. Interviewing or psychological testing are becoming normal practice for admitting a child to a school. In other words, the teaching of children based on new methods entails training six-year olds for grade one - the child must be able to count, put words together, have a knowledge of the environment, be able to think, and so on. A very intensive programme of primary classes is required for this. For example, only one lesson of 45 minutes is allocated to cover one letter. Therefore it is difficult for untrained children to adapt to such a rate of learning, the ministry believes. At interviews it is usually perception, memory, attention and concentration, thinking, movement and speech that are checked. Questions are also asked on such subjects as "The world around us", "Town" and "Daily Routine". Simple arithmetical tasks are also included in the tests.

It follows from all this that parents more and more often come up against the fact that interviews for their little ones turn into real examinations. Does this mean that for children who have not received special training the chances of being accepted in grade one are close to zero? No. The Education Ministry advises assigning children to so-called "0" classes which operate in many schools in the capital today. This is a preparatory class where classes are run by qualified teachers.

But what happens to the children who have still under-achieved and have failed to reach the required level? Director of the Institute of Educational Problems and a Doctor of Education, Abdulla Mehrabov, proposes creating special groups for them and gradually bringing them up to the level of the others. Mehrabov also believes that schools should accept under-achievers who live in the vicinity. "A six-year old child should be encouraged to have a general education. If there is a school in the area where the child lives then he should not be sent to a school which is 10-12 km from his home. This is a violation of children's rights," Mehrabov says.

Schools may accept children to the first grade based on an examination, he added. But the more talented children, who need to be merged into a single group, should be selected during this examination.  According to Mehrabov, other children who demonstrate a relatively low level of knowledge and abilities should also be accepted into the school. With this in mind, separate classes for under-achievers should be set up in order to raise the level of their knowledge to that of other more talented children. "We must implement a state policy. A child should receive an education by attending a school in the area where he lives. There are problems here which we are now examining," the institute's director says.