Belarusian Education Minister Goes Against Lukashenka

They had polar opinions on the new textbook.

A new textbook on philosophy for university students is already “in preparation.” Work on the textbook began after Alexander Lukashenko criticized the old one in mid-February, writes zerkalo.io.

On February 13, at a meeting with the heads of the country’s higher educational institutions, Aliaksandr Lukashenka said that he looked through a philosophy textbook of his youngest son Mikalai and was horrified:

“Listen, that’s a nightmare! I have never seen such nonsense (I don’t even want to call names, some are known). And there is the rector of our academy, I will name him in the first lines. What did they write?! That's horrible! Soviet textbooks gave clear, structured answers to all questions. And there is such rubbish there, not a single student will learn it,” Lukashenka was indignant and ordered to put the textbooks in order and write them in “normal language.”

Education Minister Andrei Ivanets, in an interview with the state newspaper, did not agree with this characterization of the philosophy textbook. According to the official, the textbook “is well prepared, but is more aimed at students of the relevant profile.”

“The new textbook is already at the preparation stage,” assured the head of the Ministry of Education.