Aleksandr Lukashenko makes personnel decisions
President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko made personnel decisions on 28 February . The head of state appointed:
Valery Brylev - Belarus President Aide
Fyodor Domotenko - Belarus President Aide – Minsk chief inspector
Anatoly Lis - Belarus President Aide – chief inspector for Gomel Oblast
Vladimir Davydov - judge and chairman of the Belarusian military court
Oleg Kiyenko - judge and chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast economic court
Sergei Shevtsov - chairman of the Gomel Oblast Court
Andrei Molchan - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Zimbabwe on concurrent
Vasily Stepanenko - First Deputy Emergencies Minister
The President approved the appointment of:
Igor Lositsky - Deputy Healthcare Minister
Andrei Klets - head of the Leninsky District Administration of Brest
Nikolai Lisovsky - Chairman of the Orsha District Executive Committee
Yuri Shuleiko - Deputy Chairman of the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee
Andrei Khudyk - Chairman of the Grodno City Council
Sergei Lozhechnik
Chairman of the Shchuchin District Executive Committee
Alexander Yakhnovets - Chairman of the Molodechno District Executive Committee
Yuri Bondar - rector of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts
Andrei Korol - rector of the Yanka Kupala Grodno State University
Ivan Shilo - rector of the Belarusian State Agrarian and Technical University
Nikolai Lobach - Director General of the management company of the holding company Minsk Motor Plant
Viktor Ivanov - member of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee
Pavel Sukhorukov - member of the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee
Addressing the newly appointed Belarus President Aides – chief inspectors for Minsk City and Gomel Oblast, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that they should “have a clear and objective vision of what is going on in the regions and timely inform the head of state about it”.
“You are neither assistants of the governors, nor their enemies. You should be able to see the situation in Minsk and Gomel Oblast as I see it. There are many problems in the both regions, however, I am particularly concerned about Minsk,” the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the state needs new people with a fresh judgment of the situation and the existing problems. Most importantly, these people should be able to resolve these issues and use out-of-the-box solutions, if necessary.
The President asked to decide on a person to replace Valery Brylev as Ambassador to Kazakhstan as soon as possible (Valery Brylev led the Belarusian diplomatic mission in this country before he was appointed President Aide). “This country is very important for us, it is our strategic partner, especially in view of their economic modernization program,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
When setting tasks for the chiefs of local executive bodies, the head of state pointed out that Belarus is going through a rather difficult period. “It is not about our abilities or problems, but about the toughening global competition in economy and hence in politics. Everything, including military conflicts, has economic reasons behind it. Therefore, we should be able to protect our sovereignty and independence using economic means. And economic decisions are made by the government, including local authorities,” the President believes.
Addressing the heads of the education establishments, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that there are no glaring problems in Belarusian universities but there are more than enough regular ones.
“We need to finish polishing everything we once started right up to organizational things. I mean the reduction of the education terms, the selection of the disciplines, which are needed. We do not want students to work using the ‘pass-an-exam-and-forget’ principle,” the head of state said.
“I think that we do not need formal improvement but wise one. We do not need some departmental approaches, complaints that some professors do not have enough hours. You have to think about the interests of the state,” the President said.
“We know very well what things are excessive, what things have to stay, and what has to be expanded. But reduction is necessary. And the process is now on track,” the head of state said.
At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that close attention should be drawn to the education quality. In his words, facts of careless and formal attitude to education are still registered in educational establishments.
The President also pointed out his requirement to get the education content closer to the practical training.
“Practical training is the main thing. Half of the time students, particularly students of agricultural universities, other applied professions, should spend at workstations. For instance, pedagogues should be constantly in school. After 1.5-2 years of training and studies, they should get training in school, in the field, at an enterprise. We want students to be able to feel whether their career choice was the right one as soon as possible. Otherwise, they graduate, get employed, feel the choice was wrong, and go for retraining,” the head of state noted.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he wanted the rectors to be active participants in the education modernization: “I would like to see the modernization of these universities to come not only from the minister but from you, too. First, in order for us to act right and to prevent errors because you have a better idea of how things should be modernized. Second, in order for you to tell us if things go wrong. It will not undermine the state, contrariwise, I am not afraid of it”.
“We have many problems in institutions of higher learning. But I want you to keep in mind that we will not allow any more major restructuring of the education system. The issues we get told about sometimes, for instance, problems with languages or some other stuff, are nothing but idle talk. We resolved these problems a long time ago. We need to improve things, put the university system into order, work calmly, organize the process, improve the quality of education and make it up-t- date, adjust it to the situation evolving in the economy and the politics of our state. It is your key task,” the President emphasized.