MINSK, 26 August (BelTA) – It is necessary to sort out the problems rural Belarusians encounter as part of their daily lives and to wisely approach the optimization of various social facilities taking into account interests of the people. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during a government conference held on 26 August to discuss the efficiency of retail services on the national scale, BelTA has learned.
At the beginning of the meeting the head of state emphasized that all the decisions must be made in order to ensure a normal life for people and primarily those in the countryside. The president mentioned a number of aspects that need to be addressed. He remarked they represent only a small facet of the problems in the countryside.
“In mass media, social networks, on forums people systematically bring up the matter of closed rural health posts, kindergartens, post offices, banks, schools, and things like that,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “I am not saying they should be available everywhere. Some say it is necessary to preserve the school with 3-4 students in each form. Who needs education like that? It is better to spend money and transport the kids to a nearby school with normal education. But they should not be shut down without a thought.”
The president emphasized that a sensible approach to the optimization of socially important facilities should be practiced on the basis of interests of the people. As an example he mentioned a recent closure of a kindergarten in a rural area. The kindergarten catered to few children. The head of state gave instructions to sort it out. “As an executive I’d be interested in getting kids to the kindergarten because it would free up seven sets of hands in this case,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked. In his words, the officials explained the decision by saying that there is a kindergarten 7-10km away.
“Will a milkmaid drive three, four-year-old kids to a kindergarten 7-10km away?” the head of state asked a rhetorical question. “Have you gone crazy? Don’t you see it? Send your own grandkid or a four-year-old kid to this faraway kindergarten! Impractical!”
The president demanded that all the identified problems concerning the life of people in the countryside must be resolved. “Because we focus on their problems only when we need to harvest the crops. We cannot enable barely acceptable conditions for them. If only we couldn’t!” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
After the government conference Chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Aleksandr Subbotin told reporters that the kindergarten in the agrotown of Gorshchevshchina, Tolochin District, Vitebsk Oblast will continue to operate.
He explained that local authorities together with the Education Ministry regularly optimize institutions. This is also driven by economic feasibility: if the number of students becomes very small, maintaining a school, for example, becomes too costly. It is more efficient to organize transportation for children to neighboring settlements. For instance, in Vitebsk Oblast this year, 15 kindergartens and about 7 schools were closed in this manner. A similar approach is used across the country. However, without a doubt many factors are taken into account, including the interests of children and parents, which are always considered. Strict requirements have been established for making such decisions.
While transporting schoolchildren is an absolutely reasonable and correct approach, transporting very young children of kindergarten age is a completely different matter. And every parent understands the president’s stance on this issue. Speaking of parents, in this case, they are mostly employees of the local agricultural organization, sought-after specialists. They can and want to work, but only if they are sure their children are in reliable care.
After another look at the issue of the Gorshchevshchina kindergarten, it was decided to keep it working. “The president demands a more thorough approach to every case,” Aleksandr Subbotin emphasized. “After all, we are fighting for personnel policy in rural areas, and if there are people working there, we must make exceptions and preserve [institutions]. This case is illustrative. And the kindergarten will continue to operate no matter what. Although 21 children from this same village are taken to a school in a neighboring village. Therefore, at the very least, the kindergarten will be in this village, and the school in the neighboring one, to preserve these settlements.”
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