September 2, Pozirk. This year, Belarusian schools enrolled about 105,000 first-graders, 13,000 fewer than three years ago, says Pozirk‘s analysis of the National Statistics Committee’s (Biełstat) data.
From 2023, the number of school students fell by 20,000 to 1,070,000; schools, by 217 to 2,872, according to the education ministry.
This year’s curriculum will remain the same apart from some extracurricular activities with an emphasis on patriotism, Education Minister Andrej Ivaniec announced last week.
About 10 percent of school students receive instruction in Belarusian. Although authorities say 40 percent of secondary schools provide instruction in Belarusian, they are mostly small and located in rural areas.
Not a single Belarusian university provides instruction in Belarusian.
