MINSK, 29 June (BelTA) – Distance education cannot substitute a traditional lecture or face-to-face communication in a student group, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with prominent Belarusian pedagogues on 29 June, BelTA has learned.
“Distance learning cannot substitute a traditional lecture, interaction in a student group, or lessons where people exchange not only knowledge, but also energy, where the youth acquire the most important skills – communication skills, public speaking, and persuasively arguing their opinion,” the president said.
The distance education has become a hot topic during the pandemic, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “It has become obvious that some institutions, where distance learning was superficial, fell behind. Some pretended to teach, others pretended to study. I think, everybody have drawn conclusions about their readiness to keep up with the times,” the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that distance learning should become an auxiliary component and that face-to-face interaction with pedagogues, teachers, and professors will remain the central element of education. “Let those people, who want to move the whole system of secondary and higher education online, explain how can one teach a future surgeon perform operations from scratch online,” he added.
