General Pedagogical Forum of Smolensk region

Deputy Governor Olga Okuneva attended the August meeting of education professionals, which is traditionally held on the eve of the new school year.

The Teachers' Forum means the time for the teachers to assess the results of the previous academic year and to set the objectives for the new one. The participants of the Forum discussed the development of the education system of Smolensk region. Particular attention was paid to the implementation of measures to modernize the education system in strict accordance with the requirements of the state policy.

In the lobby of the Smolensk Industrial and Economic College, which became the site of the plenary session, there were stands representing innovative projects, technology and services successfully applied in the educational institutions of the region.

In her welcoming speech Olga Okuneva pointed out that the education system is one of the priority areas for the regional authorities. The authorities of the region are paying special attention to the proper preparation of the schools for the new academic year, and the issues related to the support of teachers, educators and students in spite of all the difficulties are dealt with in the first place.

The regional Administration under the leadership of Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy takes every effort to implement the orders of the President of Russia to raise the teaching staff salaries. According to the preliminary results of the first half of 2014 in Smolensk region the average monthly salary of the teaching staff of educational institutions of general education amounted to 22,919 rubles, which is 104% of the planned amount for this year.

For the first time in decades 7 kindergartens are being built in the region at the same time. The subsidy from the federal budget for the construction of 4 more kindergartens has been received. General repairs in 105 municipal educational organizations of the region have been done, and 37 buildings have been reconstructed. To provide transportation of the students to and from schools 40 buses have been purchased, sports equipment and inventory have been acquired for almost 30 million rubles, 582,000 textbooks and reference books have been bought. The results of experienced teachers’ work show in the success of their students. According to the results of the Unified State Exams the average scores in mathematics and the Russian language in Smolensk region were higher than the average scores across the country, and 25 of our high school graduates received a 100-point-score in five subjects. For the first time in the history of Smolensk region 267 boys and girls were awarded the regional gold medals for outstanding academic achievements.

The work of the Pedagogical Conference began on August, 19 in the section the participants of which discussed the realization of the right of children with disabilities to education, the main directions of youth policy, diverse forms of preschool education, current issues of spiritual and moral education, the role of employers in the staff training and other issues. The key speaker at the plenary session was Head of the Education, Science and Youth Department Lyudmila Ivanichenko. Bishop of Smolensk and Vyazma Isidor also took part in the plenary session. This is quite natural since there is a rich practice of collaboration with the Russian Orthodox Church in the sphere of education in Smolensk region. As it was pointed out at the Teachers Forum, complementing each other, the school and the church harmonically solve the most important task of today – the revival of cultural traditions, spiritual and moral education of the younger generation. During the plenary session the decisions generated by the sections were summarized and included in the resolution of the Pedagogical Conference - 2014, containing a detailed set of measures designed to ensure the further effective implementation of the regional education system modernization.

All the speakers expressed their unanimous belief that the competence of teachers, their practical experience, devotion and wisdom will allow to keep on successfully meeting the challenges the education sector of Smolensk region is now facing.