The ceremony of awarding the teachers, who have successfully completed training courses organized for physical education teachers of general education schools, was held at secondary school no. 6 in Baku within the framework of the project "TOPs program - improvement of learners` physical health, psychological stability and learning achievements". The main objective of the project, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education, the "British Council" and the “Bakcell” company, is to provide physical education and elementary school teachers of general education schools with modern educational technology according to the subjects taught by them. The event was attended by Firudin Gurbanov, Deputy Minister of Education, NGO representatives and teachers of general educational institutions. Veli Musayev, Project Manager of “Sport for development” Public Union, which is the main executive operator of TOPs program, delivered a presentation, and spoke about the projects implemented in the academic year 2015-2016. Speaking at the event, Firudin Gurbanov, Deputy Minister of Education, noted that the improvement of pupils` physical health, psychological stability and learning achievements through physical education and sport was one of the priorities for modern education and in this regard, a series of projects were carried out in recent years. After the speeches, Narmina Agayeva, Director of School No. 220, Mirfaig Mirheydarli, Director of School No. 138, and Alla Vazirova, Director of School No. 269, were awarded Honorary Diplomas for their productive activities in the implementation of the project in the academic year 2014-2015. 170 physical education teachers working in 33 schools in Baku and Sumgait were awarded the Certificate due to the successful completion of the training course organized on the basis of TOPs program. As well as, Honorary Diplomas were presented to employees of "Sport for Development" Public Union and "Tahsil" TV, who have contributed to the successful implementation and promotion of the project. It should be noted that this project covers 33 schools, boarding schools and lyceums in Baku and Sumgait since the academic year 2015-2016. In the training courses, organized within the framework of the project, more than 200 physical education and elementary school teachers acquired new knowledge and skills in teaching Physical Education. As a result of the use of modern education technology in the school subject of physical education, more than 35 000 pupils benefit from more effective and interesting physical education classes, as well as extracurricular activities.

19/02/2016 10:08

New pupils were elected to the Centers, intended for preparation for International Olympiads and established under the Physics, mathematics and information science lyceum, as well as the chemistry and biology oriented lyceum, in order to ensure a more successful performance of Azerbaijani schoolchildren at International subject Olympiads. According to the results of subject competitions held in all cities and regions of the country from October 2015 until January of this year, 70-120 pupils were invited to Baku to participate in this selection process on relevant subjects. 60 percent of the pupils, participating in the selection process, came from regions. In general, during the selection round, about 400 seventh and eighth grade students demonstrated their knowledge and skills in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. 15-20 pupils, selected for each subject, will be involved in lessons, designed to prepare pupils for Olympiads, on the basis of a special program. It should be noted that the relevant selection round is held by the Ministry of Education for the second time. The pupils, selected in the academic year 2014-2015, continue their preparations at the Centers for more than a year.

18/02/2016 15:05

On February 16, the second stage of the competition entitled "The use of the digital laboratory equipment "LabDisk" for natural sciences in the teaching process" was completed. The main objective of the competition held for the first time is to expand the use of the new, digital laboratory equipment and the innovative technologies of the twenty-first century in the process of organizing lessons in natural sciences (chemistry, biology and physics). 86 projects were received for the competition, jointly organized by the Ministry of Education and "Edumedia" LLC, in the categories of "The best teacher's work" and "The best instructor`s work". According to the results of the evaluation, 21 nominees were selected and admitted to the next stage. In the next stage, the projects will be presented in front of the jury and will be evaluated. The winners of the competition will be presented with "iPad air", "Globimate" tablet, "Samsung Galaxy Tab-3” and other special prizes.

18/02/2016 15:01

The presentation ceremony of the Republican Championship, to be organized by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Republican Committee of Independent Trade Union of Education Workers of Azerbaijan Republic, the Association of Trade Union Sports Organizations of Azerbaijan, the Republican Sports Center "Tahsil" and the Republican Council of Student Sports Association "Ganjlik", among students of higher education institutions was held. The presentation ceremony, held at the assembly hall of Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), was attended by representatives of sports teams of higher education institutions, master judges in various sports and members of the working group. The regulations of the championship were presented to the participants of the ceremony in the form of a video. The program of the Republican Championship, to be held in March-May, 2016, among students, includes 10 kinds of sports. Natig Lahijov, Director of the Republican Sports Center "Tahsil", provided detailed information about the preparation stages for the championship, the rules of filling out order forms for teams, and the conditions for holding games. According to him, the Ministry of Education provides the necessary assistance to better organize sporting events to be held among students of higher education institutions. Then, the proposals were heard, and the participants were informed about the rules of holding games by master judges in various sports.

18/02/2016 10:01

New pupils were elected to the Centers, intended for preparation for International Olympiads and established under the Physics, mathematics and information science lyceum, as well as the chemistry and biology oriented lyceum, in order to ensure a more successful performance of Azerbaijani schoolchildren at International subject Olympiads. According to the results of subject competitions held in all cities and regions of the country from October 2015 until January of this year, 70-120 pupils were invited to Baku to participate in this selection process on relevant subjects. 60 percent of the pupils, participating in the selection process, came from regions. In general, during the selection round, about 400 seventh and eighth grade students demonstrated their knowledge and skills in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. 15-20 pupils, selected for each subject, will be involved in lessons, designed to prepare pupils for Olympiads, on the basis of a special program. It should be noted that the relevant selection round is held by the Ministry of Education for the second time. The pupils, selected in the academic year 2014-2015, continue their preparations at the Centers for more than a year.

18/02/2016 09:57

The Republican Ecological Education and Experience Centre of the Ministry of Education and IDEA Public Union launched the environmental education program entitled "Let`s protect the environment together" for schoolchildren. The purpose of the program is to instill a sense of caring and love for nature in young people, to strengthen environmental awareness and to actively involve young people in the solution of environmental problems. Under the program, the first training was organized at the Eco-club of secondary school No.6 of the city of Baku. The training, consisting of theoretical and practical parts, was dedicated to the theme entitled "Alternative energy - energy of the future". During the interactive training, attended by more than 30 pupils, the discussions were held about the environment, and the views of experts on topics, which are interesting to schoolchildren, were heard. IDEA Public Union and the Republican Ecological Education and Experience Centre of the Ministry of Education intend to organize similar trainings for pupils of other secondary schools of the country. According to the program, the trainings covering topics such as fundamentals of ecology, plant and animal ecology, human ecology, urban ecology or the cities of the future, climatic changes, alternative energy, waste management, biodiversity and its conservation, forest ecology, sustainable green tourism and other environmental themes will be organized for pupils every month. It should be noted that the environmental education program covers members of eco-clubs operating in pilot secondary schools in Baku. The Republican Ecological Education and Experience Centre of the Ministry of Education has begun the process of establishing eco-clubs in secondary schools since September 2015. Eco clubs are currently operating in 25 general educational institutions in Baku.

18/02/2016 09:55

On February 15-19, 2016, the questions related to the duties arising from the Order No. 1516 of the President of Azerbaijan Republic dated November 10, 2015, on "Making amendments to the Order No. 3108 of the President of Azerbaijan Republic dated August 30, 2013, on "Increasing scholarships for doctoral candidates, students and pupils of higher, secondary specialized and initial vocational educational institutions"" will be answered on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic. Questions will be answered through the comments.  Users are kindly requested not to appeal with recurring questions. Dear Facebook users! - While writing comments, everyone must comply with the requirements of the relevant legislation. Otherwise, such comments will be removed from the page. - Appeals should be associated with the above-mentioned issue. - Comments written in capital letters are automatically hidden by the system. Such comments will not be answered.

18/02/2016 09:54

On February 12, the Ministry of Education held a press conference in connection with the optimization of the network of secondary specialized educational institutions. It was noted at the press conference that in accordance with the Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 3, 2016, the network of secondary specialized educational institutions, carrying out personnel training in the same or similar specialties and located in the same geographical area, was optimized by taking into account the need to improve the efficiency and quality of education at the secondary specialized education level. According to the Decision, 14 colleges were merged with each other in an appropriate manner, 3 colleges were subordinated to the relevant higher education institutions.  The Ministry of Education was instructed to divert funds, saved as a result of the execution of this decision, for strengthening the infrastructure of colleges, and to ensure the use of their relevant material-technical base for the purposes of the education system. The teaching load of teachers will remain at the current level because the number of students has not decreased as a result of the optimization of the network of secondary specialized educational institutions. Thus, this decision will not have a negative impact on the activities of teachers. The optimization of the network of secondary specialized educational institutions serves to improve the efficiency and quality of personnel training at this education level, and to respond to the demands of the modern education system. Within the framework of the "National Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan", the important measures are taken to adapt the education management system and infrastructure to global experience and to reconstruct our country in accordance with the development concept. In the end, numerous questions from the journalists were answered.

18/02/2016 09:51

On February 11, the opening ceremony of the fifth Republican Contest "Scientists of the Future" was held at the Central Scientific Library (CSL) of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS). The main objective of the contest is to give pupils of senior classes the opportunity to demonstrate their scientific achievements and to identify candidates who will participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held annually in USA. The contest is organized by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Heydar Aliyev Center, the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and the Republican Committee of Independent Trade Union of Education Workers of the Azerbaijan Republic. Welcoming the participants of the event, Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Education, noted that the new challenges of the world and the need to build a society with a thorough knowledge imposed new requirements for the Azerbaijani youth. The formation of a more mature way of thinking and civic-mindedness in young people and their involvement in research-oriented activities are among the main objectives of the reforms implemented in general educational institutions of our country. Noting an increase in the number of students who participated in the Republican subject Olympiads in recent years, the Minister spoke about the work aimed at the popularization of science, and said that the mechanism for evaluating scientific achievements of higher education institutions was developed. Akif Alizadeh, President of ANAS, Intigam Babayev, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, and Tatiana Nanayeva, Manager for CIS countries at "Intel" Corporation, emphasized the importance of the contest in terms of increasing young people's interest in science and revealing their talent, skills and potential. Murad Alizadeh, who became the winner of the contest "Scientists of the Future" in 2013 and who is currently studying in the field of tourism at the University of Waterloo in Canada, shared his experience gained during the contest and spoke about his achievements. IX-XI grade students of general educational institutions of 11 cities and districts of the country participate in the contest "Scientists of the Future" with 129 scientific projects. 87 of them are collective projects, and 42 of them are individual projects. The contest, scientifically supported by a number of universities, is held in 8 categories. The jury consisting of leading scientists was established in order to evaluate the projects in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and health, ecology, engineering, computer sciences. The projects with a new scientific idea, a technical description of experiment and engineering project, and a description of innovative computer program were received for the contest. The contest will last three days. On the second day of the contest, the projects will be evaluated by the jury, at the same time the Training Academy of the contest will operate. At the end of the day, the students will meet with prominent scientists of the country. On February 13, the “Open Door” day will be held in the first half of the day and during these hours, students and teachers of schools operating in Baku, as well as media representatives will get acquainted with the projects. In the second half of the day, the ceremony of awarding the winners will be held. The winners of the contest will be presented with cash prize, established by the organizers, diploma and medal. The authors of 3 projects, selected by a jury, will have an opportunity to participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) to be held in Phoenix, the State of Arizona, USA, in May of this year.

18/02/2016 09:49

The UK-Azerbaijan Interuniversity Forum was held in London on February 10 within the framework of the first meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on economic cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Jeyhun Bayramov, Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Ms. Rebecca Hughes, the British Council's Director of Education, made a speech at the opening ceremony of the Forum.  In his speech, J. Bayramov noted that Azerbaijan established successful cooperation with the United Kingdom after the restoration of independence, education was one of the most dynamically developing areas, the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan attached great importance to the educational reforms during the transition to knowledge economy, and "National Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan", approved by Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated October 24, 2013, was a road map for these reforms. Noting that there are already successful cooperation projects between the two countries in the field of higher education, Deputy Minister emphasized the importance of intensifying these projects both from a qualitative and quantitative point-of-view. Noting the attractiveness of higher education institutions of UK for Azerbaijani students, J. Bayramov underlined that one-third of the scholarships offered within the framework of the "State Program on education of Azerbaijani youth abroad in the years 2007-2015" were given to students studying in this country. Then, within the framework of the working sessions, the representatives of Azerbaijan and UK Universities delivered a report on the current state of cooperation in the field of higher education and scientific studies, and the prospects for future cooperation. During the discussions, faculty and student exchange, dual degree programs, joint research projects, exchange of successful experiences in the field of higher education management and realization of cooperation in other directions were discussed in detail.

18/02/2016 09:48