Yesterday, the Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Education awarded winners and prizewinners of the republican Olympiad among schoolchildren. Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Education Jeyhun Bayramov told Vestnik Kavkaza about the state support of the winners of the Olympiad.
- Congratulations on the successful completion of the Olympiad, which revealed a huge number of young intellectuals. How does the state support children when they apply for university studies, what about their further life?
- According to the state strategy for the development of education, adopted in 2013 and signed by the President, work for identifying gifted children early, systematic work with these children is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Education. An integral part of this process is the preparation and conduct of various competitions, contests, olympiads among different age groups of school children. The most significant process in this direction is holding republican subject Olympiads. Starting from 2013, immediately after the adoption of the state strategy, the procedure for holding the Olympiads was amended. This allowed us to increase the number of subjects of republican subject Olympiads (there are currently eight of them), as well as their coverage. From 2013 to 2017 the number of participants in the initial round increased several times. About 30,000 schoolchildren participated in qualifying rounds of different subject Olympiads this year. Today we attended the award ceremony of the republican Olympiads in eight categories in different age groups. It is more than 200 schoolchildren who represent the whole country - both Baku and other cities and regions of the country.
- How does this system work?
- Special centers for in-depth study of subjects have been created in several educational institutions. There is a physics-math and informatics biased lyceum in Baku. There is a chemistry and biology biased lyceum. The separate systematic work is carried out to prepare these children, including for the world subject Olympiads. We can say with great satisfaction that in the last three years the number of our medalists of world subject Olympiads has grown to 66 people - one gold, 11 silver and 54 bronze medals. Some of the winners awarded today will also participate in various subject Olympiads in 2017. This process will begin literally next month. We are looking forward with great hope to the results of this year, and our expectations are also related to the fact that this year the number of medalists will grow comparing to the previous years.
Today, several presentations were held on the further choice of specialties by winners of republican Olympiads during the awarding ceremony. It was shown which schools they choose, which Azerbaijani universities they mainly apply for, as well as their results at entrance exams. We witnessed today that there is a complete correlation between their results achieved in subject Olympiads and university admissions, which once again confirms the fact that a talented person is talented in everything. Despite the fact that the programs are specific and may differ, they achieve very high results when entering universities. As for the winners of international subject Olympiads, according to the relevant Cabinet of Ministers decree, they have a preferential right when entering universities in their specialties. A significant part of the winners of the past Olympiads entered Azerbaijani universities, but there are also many students who continue their education in the world's leading universities.
It is important to promote this process in schools, work with teachers, with heads of educational institutions, as well as with parents. The Ministry of Education is currently considering the possibility of increasing the number of subjects for subject Olympiads in the future, because it has a very positive effect on a more in-depth study of certain disciplines.
- Do they focus on technical subjects?
- When we speak about eight subjects, these are the five subjects in which world Olympiads are held (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer sciences), as well as Olympiads in native Azerbaijani language, history and geography. Perhaps we will expand the list with such subjects as technology, robotics, law, business and ecology.
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