Rural school graduates to lose privileges

This year, secondary school graduates must have at least 7 points on tests to be able to apply to universities.  About 11,000 young people failed to pass the mathematics test.

The Belarusian Ministry of Education has no plans to lower the pass/fail criteria. On the contrary, the barrier should be higher next year, onliner.by writes.

First deputy minister of education Alyaksandr Zhuk thinks admission requirements for universities should be stricter. The pass/fail barrier can be 10 points or even higher next year, he supposes.

Equal conditions for rural and urban applicants are another possible change.

“They show almost the same results,” Zhuk says. “In some disciplines, like Geography, French and Spanish, rural graduates showed better results than  urban children this year. I think we can cancel privileges for rural graduates and separate admission requirements next year.”

The Ministry of Education will continue to reduce low-residence programmes. Specialists think this type of education should be available only for students who work or plan to work in a specialized field. “ it is not normal if a school graduate does not work and chooses a low-residence programme,” Alyaksandr Zhuk said.

The number of places on law and humanities faculties will be reduced: the Ministry of Education is confident young people should work in the real sector of the economy in accordance with the country's needs.