MINSK, August 24. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko thinks that those unwilling to follow the principles of state ideology should not teach at Belarusian schools. He stated this on Monday during his meeting with Education Minister Igor Karpenko.
The president emphasized that the republic has "state education, state schools, state ideology." "And those who want to follow these principles, please, you are always welcome, go ahead and teach, educate, work. Those who do not want to - this means they shouldn’t be in schools. This needs to be said directly, frankly, and honestly," Lukashenko stated, according to the BelTA news agency. He added that it is necessary to deal with those who "switched sides."
The Belarusian president also demanded to intercept firmly all attacks on teachers. "Defend the teachers from various attacks. We have already started doing so, and we are doing this very actively and we very firmly intercept all sorts of bashing, faultfinding directed at teachers, doctors," the head of state said.
According to him, the country should "start the school year very actively, whatever it takes." "One needs to study during all times. If the beginning of the school year is also in disarray, that’s very bad. You remember how we finished the school year due to the coronavirus and those apprehensions that the society had, especially parents. Excessive apprehensions, as we now understand," he noted.
Lukashenko has urged to provide aid to needy families and families with multiple children. "Although I don’t know already, how else can we help those with multiple children - we have such a social package on the part of the government which no other state has," the Belarusian leader pointed out.
The presidential election in Belarus was held on August 9. According to the final results of the Central Election Committee, the incumbent president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko got 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who was considered his main opponent, was second with 10.12%, she refused to recognize the election results. Immediately after exit poll results were announced, mass protests erupted in Belarusian cities, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement forces. According to the republic’s Interior Ministry, several thousand people were detained in the first days of the protests, dozens of policemen and protesters were injured. Tikhanovskaya left the country for Lithuania on the night of August 10.