MINSK, 15 March (BelTA) – During a meeting timed to the 30th anniversary of the Constitution Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded about his instruction to work out new textbooks on philosophy, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I have already talked a lot about philosophy as my favorite science, about its further development. Well now, Oleg [Romanov, head of the political party and the public association Belaya Rus, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor], you have to do a lot. We need good textbooks on philosophy. They should be as good as those we had during the Soviet period. Unfortunately, the textbooks we have now are not simply useless, from my point of view. They are sometimes harmful. They push people away from philosophy. How can we do without it? I don’t have to explain it to you.”
Oleg Romanov said that a new textbook on philosophy had already been prepared taking into account previous remarks by the head of state and is now in the Education Ministry: “It already has the ministry’s seal of approval. It will soon be tested in higher education institutions of our country.”
BelTA reported earlier that during a meeting with members of the Republican Council of Rectors on 13 February Aleksandr Lukashenko identified a number of problems in the higher education system. The head of state drew attention to the quality of textbooks. Back then he said he had been made familiar with a university textbook on philosophy. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “Listen, what a nightmare. What did they write? That's horrible. Soviet textbooks gave clear, structured answers to all questions. And the textbook I saw is such rubbish. Not a single student will learn it.”
This is why during the meeting in February the head of state repeated his instruction to put textbooks in order, particularly school textbooks, by presenting the information they contain in a way the students can easily comprehend.
