Opening of secondary school No. 35 in Bobruisk

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko paid a visit to Bobruisk to attend the opening of new secondary school No. 35 on Knowledge Day, 1 September.

Even on Knowledge Day Aleksandr Lukashenko continued to watch over the progress in the harvest campaign and autumn field work. On his arrival in Bobruisk the head of state met with Mogilev Oblast Governor Leonid Zayats to hear out his report.

Grain harvesting has been completed. Now the farmers’ main task is to get ready to harvest corn, the President said.

“Our main task now is to prepare for corn harvesting. We need to do everything right to avoid a shortage of grain and not to have to import it this year. It is not a problem to buy it, but we need money for that,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

He was also interested in other aspects of the region’s agricultural sector, including winter crop sowing, mineral fertilizer and fuel supplies.

With regard to the latter issue, the head of state gave instructions to consider additional measures at the governmental level, if necessary. “We should hold a government meeting and think, together with banks, how to help them [Mogilev Oblast agricultural organizations],” the Belarusian leader said.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, we need a prudent approach to spending funds allocated for the social sector and give priority to improving the wellbeing of people working in the education and healthcare sectors.

He asked whether all the schools were operating at full capacity. “Make sure that our schools accommodate as many students as possible,” stressed the head of state.

The President noted that wages should be raised and added that there are other areas where it is necessary to invest. This may not be very typical of Bobruisk, but it is relevant, for example, for Minsk and a number of other cities.

“We need to think twice before we build something new. If we need some facilities, we should build them. However, if we have enough places (we have good transport communication, bus services), we have to do with the ones we have. This also applies to the healthcare sector. Social spending needs to be aimed primarily at the wages of teachers and doctors. It is important,” the Belarusian leader said.

In his speech at the ceremony to inaugurate the new school in Bobruisk the head of state said that 1 September is a special day for him and he always attends back-to-school celebrations with great excitement, no matter where the ceremonies take place, be it an old or a new school, a technical college or a higher education institution, in a village, a district center or the capital city.

“I remember myself both a student and a teacher. I know how parents feel at these moments. Each of you and also me, as the President of the country, is entering another period in life with our own tasks, plans and expectations. The entire Belarus is tuning to a new working rhythm. Because children are the most important thing in life. You, who first stepped into this temple of knowledge, and you who are preparing for independent life today, are setting the pace for the entire country. You are the foundation, the future of any nation,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The residents of the young district of Bobruisk are welcoming a new academic year with a new school. The institution was built in less than a year, and the President named its opening a great gift to both the country and the city.

“We planned to open this school in December. But both the builders and the local authorities tried very hard to finish the work by 1 September. The saying goes “a stitch in time saves nine”. It was also important for to start the new academic year in a new school. After all, everything starts here, at school, both our conscious life and the life of the city. Any city lives and develops when there are conditions for giving birth, upbringing and developing children,” the head of state stressed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that the improvement of infrastructure - from maternity hospitals, clinics and educational institutions to children's playgrounds and sports stadiums - is the main thing the government programs to develop small and medium-sized towns are focused on.

Seven schools are inaugurated in Belarus on Knowledge Day.

The head of state addressed teachers, students and their parents: “You should come to the school as if it is a sacred place, with dignity and respect. This is the foundation of your lives. If you study well and get decent knowledge, you will be competitive in this life, you will get normal jobs and normal salaries. If you don’t study well, please don’t blame the government and your parents in the future. You go to school to study. It is especially relevant for future school leavers.”

“Not only a new academic year begins for you today. Today you also set up the traditions of your educational institution. These traditions will stay after your graduation and will create the unique atmosphere of school days. This atmosphere will shape the personality every child, will pay the foundation of their future,” the President added.

Aleksandr Lukashenko continued this topic at a ceremony to inaugurate secondary school No.35 in Bobruisk and mark Knowledge Day in Belarus. “We have built as many educational facilities as we need. The main thing now is to ensure they operate at full capacity. If there are some schools, where children still study in two shifts, we will definitely solve the problem within this five-year period,” said the head of state.

The President also mentioned his instructions to the government and the education minister to channel the available funds into the development of education and healthcare and increasing salaries in these sectors.

Aleksandr Lukashenko wished teachers to find their unique style in the organization of the educational process, to create projects which will engage parents in school life. “In some way they also study here together with their children,” he said. “Please convince parents, children and teachers to spend their free time here too. I hope that this tradition will promote healthy lifestyles. It is very important these days.”

The head of state emphasized that children should love sports and take care of their health. “Health is a guarantor of the safe and happy future for them,” he said.

The President wished students and teachers a good and eventful academic year. “I wish kids who just open the world of school science to find true friends. You can find friend in your teachers. They will be the most reliable and devoted friends for you. I wish senior students and soon-to-be graduates to realize the importance of knowledge that they are given at school for the achievement of their goals. I wish your teachers patience, strength and creative inspiration. Those who are patient and know how to overcome difficulties will be successful in life. In this crazy world it is absolutely unclear where it is moving. Life will not be easy in this world. We must cherish everything that we have today,” the Belarusian leader concluded.

During the inauguration ceremony Sergei Vlasik, Director General of Bobruisk Large-Panel Housing Plant, handed the President a symbolic key to the school. As the head of state said, it took less than a year to build the facility. “Take care of it; it cost a lot,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko, in turn, handed the key to director of the school Tatiana Vasilevskaya. She pointed out that the new school meets all modern requirements. “This once again proves that we are united together. We have common goals, plans, and endeavors,” the school director said.

After the ceremony the Belarusian leader got familiar with the school infrastructure and conditions for teaching.

The head of state went to see the school library. He asked the librarians if they think the place would be popular among schoolchildren, because children now prefer gadgets to books. The librarians assured that there should be no problems with this.

Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that computers and gadgets can harm children's vision. Kids also get used to them and become psychologically dependent on them.

"Take care of your children and try to engage them in sport, some other hobbies," the Belarusian leader advised.

The President also attended a lesson of first-graders on the topic "The unity of the Belarusian people is the basis of an independent country". Aleksandr Lukashenko had a warm conversation with the children, helped them to build "The Heart of Belarus" from the construction set and talked about what the Motherland is.

Then Aleksandr Lukashenko went to see the gym where the girls played volleyball. "We hope you will make it to the national team," the President wished the athletes and signed the ball for them.

The head of state said that he sometimes plays volleyball. His son Nikolai does well in this sport, too.

The President also attended wrestling classes. Aleksandr Lukashenko recollected how he did sambo when he was young.

The Belarusian leader also dropped into a modern school medical center and wished strong health to its staff.

Before visiting a pre-conscription training lesson for tenth-graders, the head of state stopped in one of the school corridors near a wall banner in Belarusian saying “Nothing can be more important for people than their native language”. This is a quote from Belarusian writer Yakub Kolas. Thus, the school also popularizes the Belarusian language among other things.

The school students asked the President several questions. One of them concerned Aleksandr Lukashenko’s attitude to the army contract service. “I support it. We have contract service. We have it where it is necessary,” the head of state said.

However, there is no urgency today to replace military conscription with contract service, Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

The role of military training instructors in schools was also discussed. They are in charge of ensuring security and educating students in this spirit, the head of state stressed.

The President also visited a career education class. Girls are taught to sew there. According to the President, it can become a profession in the future and this skill will be useful in everyday life. “It is very important for girls,” he emphasized.

At the canteen Aleksandr Lukashenko studied the school menu which included baked pudding, cutlets, stewed vegetables, fried potatoes, etc.

The President presented a gift certificate for a multiboard and a 3D printer to the school. At the end of the visit Aleksandr Lukashenko made an entry in the Book of Distinguished Guests. Children gave Aleksandr Lukashenko a souvenir - a straw beaver.

Talking to journalists, Aleksandr Lukashenko expressed confidence that we need patriotic education in schools.

"It is needed. We know that is needed, and we will do it. We have made an appropriate decision. When making it we were guided not only by last year’s events, although they did catalyze the decision. We realized that we were under-performing in this regard. We believed that there was no need to teach patriotism, that it was inherent. It turned out that we were not right," the head of state said.

He also spoke about the functions of military training instructors in schools. Their main function is to help ensure school safety and security and engage in military-patriotic education. "I would call them the main persons responsible for school safety and security. Security is akin to both patriotic and military-patriotic education,” the President said. “The main thing is safety and security at school. Children should feel safe and secure in schools and parents should not have any worries. Military training instructors should help the headmaster to ensure safety and security and to educate children in the spirit of this safety. Because you can put a security officer on every corner and still fail to ensure security if you don't teach children it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the President, these instructors should also know the school staff, troubled children and parents, and provide assistance to the headmaster. At the same time, military-patriotic education is the job of everyone: the family, the headmaster, the school and the entire teaching staff. “After all, it is impossible to raise a patriot alone. The appropriate environment is needed,” the President said.

The journalists also asked about the signing of Belarus-Russia Union State programs.

“First of all, I would like to emphasize (now they will start saying that we give up on our sovereignty and so on) that at the meeting in Sochi three years ago we instructed the governments to make the next step in the Union State construction process. However, everything was put on hold, there have been no breakthrough movements,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked. “Back then, responding to the requirements of people, the Russian President and I made a decision to take certain steps.”

The head of state recalled that the government had prepared over 30 roadmaps for the development of cooperation across the board. Later those roadmaps were turned into 28 Union State programs. “We will sign these programs and will be ready to implement them. These are not just roadmaps with certain instructions,” the Belarusian leader said.

The presidents are expected to sign them at the session of the Supreme State Council which is scheduled for October or November. “If we reach a final agreement with the Russian President [the talks of the two leaders will take place on 9 September], the governments will convene a meeting to discuss and to pass these programs. Then we will approve them at the session of the Supreme State Council,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President remarked the Belarus and Russia are living in the common economic space. However, for example there are certain programs with tracing goods (by the way, this issue was discussed at the meeting of Aleksandr Lukashenko with the chairman of the State Customs Committee). “We must see the progress, we must know what taxes and duties are paid. We need transparent procedure,” the head of state said. “An agreement was made to fully digitize this process. This is one of the programs.”

Closer cooperation in tax matters will promote economic interaction. “We must know who pays taxes and what taxes are paid. We must know what basis they have and what basis we have. It has also been officiated and adopted as a single program,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President added that these programs will benefit both Belarus and Russia. “Russia will clearly understand what role Belarus can play in the fate of Russia itself,” he said.

Belarus and Russia can build the tightest kind of relations without losing sovereignty, the President is convinced.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed: “We are not talking about losing sovereignty. We see shortcomings in the Soviet Union, in the European Union. In other words, we can avoid it as we build our relations as part of a union. Today we are so educated and smart that we can build the kind of relations that federated or unitary states don’t have without losing the sovereignty of Russia or Belarus.”

The President pointed out that in order to establish tight relations the countries do not have to merge with other countries. “There is no need for mergers and takeovers. We just have to build relations as two sovereign states,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko used the Union State program on military technology cooperation to elaborate his point of view. “We are two sovereign states but we have already built our relations. We can say we have one army, with the Belarusian army at its heart in the western direction. If, god forbid, a war happens, the Belarusian army will be the first to join this fight. And the entire western part of the Armed Forces of Russia will join in right away. Together we are building defenses and resistance against the enemy,” he noted.

“We’ve built it as sovereign states. This is why there is no need to destroy the sovereignty and independence of countries today,” Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.

The President stressed that the Belarusian-Russian army exercise Zapad 2021 is held solely for the purposes of training and shakedown of forces.

“I have seen many such exercises. I know these things from the inside. We hold exercises to train our armed forces if the worst comes to the worst, God forbid. There are plenty of reasons for concern,” the Belarusian leader said.

He recalled that last year Belarus had to put half of the army on alert and redeploy to the western border. “The reasons are more than enough,” said the head of state.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that Belarus and Russia are working together in this direction. "We have an allied army together with the Russian Federation in this direction. The armed forces of the two countries are very similar but we need cohesion,” the head of state noted. “This is why we have to train together. Because we will have to fight together. Since we have an army, armed forces, they have to be trained, they have to work together.”

In his words, a large number of troops will be involved in the exercise in the two countries from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. "At all training grounds. Putin and I have agreed that I will supervise the main part of the exercise. We will host it in Belarus. Russians will provide several training grounds, up to a dozen. The Russian President will visit a training ground to inspect the exercise in Russia while I will do it here. We will see how ready and how cohesive our armed forces are. We have a joint air defense system, a common defense policy. We have the army which must be trained and drilled. This is why we are organizing the exercise," the President said.

The focus and the theme of the exercise is purely defensive, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed. "We are not going to attack anyone. We do not need that. Yet, they are still making a fuss about it… They say they are very concerned that we will go nearly as far as cutting off the Baltic states, that, you know, we will go through the Suwalki Gap to Kaliningrad and cut off the Baltic states. Nobody needs these Baltic states. Belarus has its our own demographic issues, let alone Russia."

"We do not need someone else's land. But we need to learn to defend ourselves. We will drill the cohesion of our armed forces, determine our weak points and work on them. Although things are more or less okay now," the head of state added.

In particular, Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned plans to acquire weapons and hardware of Russian make. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I signed the order the day before yesterday. We will get tens of aircraft, tens of helicopters, and most importantly air defense systems soon. I don’t want to say how much money and what else it cost us. We may even get S-400 [air defense systems]. We need them a lot, I’ve already talked about it.”

The President added: “In other words, we will get cutting-edge hardware. We will upgrade equipment. If we see during the exercise [Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2021] that we need something extra, then we will buy it from the Russian Federation and it will enter service.”

Apart from that, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that foreign citizens are invited to observe the exercise. "They are free to watch it," he said.

The situation in Afghanistan was also discussed. The United States suffered a fiasco in Afghanistan which turned into a shameful flight, the President said.

"This is a fiasco that has turned into a shameful flight," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President noted that it is too early to draw big conclusions from the events in Afghanistan, because the Americans can play for a long time.

The President noted that it is too early to draw big conclusions because the Americans could play a long time. "The chaos at the airport [of Kabul] was, of course, sad. But we should not absolutize this and think that Americans are so brainless. They spent more than two trillions on the war. They abandoned $85 billion worth of ammunition and hardware there (Rahmon cited this figure yesterday),” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the head of state, the U.S. should have redeployed its troops to the neighboring countries, namely Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and then withdrawn from the region leaving its hardware to these countries. These countries are lacking modern weapons. "No one would have refused to accept American troops with hardware," the President said. “Everything would have been fine. But they didn't do it. They could have withdrawn from these countries within one week, calmly, without a fuss. But they did otherwise. Why did they abandon weapons, ammunition, warehouses and so on?"

Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that the United States intends to use the situation in Afghanistan to create new complications for Russia through Central Asia and China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which borders on the country.

“China is the main rival for the United States. They want to put pressure through Afghanistan,” said the head of state.

“I would not rush to make conclusions, based on the latest events, that the Americans are so stupid. It is essential that we carefully assess the situation in Afghanistan and think what we can do for the Afghans. We are not going to fight there. Neither Russia nor the republics of Central Asia are going to do it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the President, it was confirmed by the leaders of these states. “No one wants this war as people will be dying. The Afghans have had enough too. However, there are factions there. Some have seized power there now. Therefore, the situation will take some time to calm down. We must do our best for the sake of peace,” the head of state said.

For instance, the People’s Republic of China is committed to the same policy, including from the pragmatic point of view. China has a common border with Afghanistan, and this country is rich in natural resources. “They will invest huge funds in this country to create jobs and to maintain peace there,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained.

The President believes that Belarus has a wise policy on Afghanistan. “We did not prohibit Taliban, we did not interfere. We were committed to the cooperation with the then government. We did not put any pressure on anybody. We have had a balanced policy,” he said.

While talking to reporters, Aleksandr Lukashenko shared his attitude to celebrating his birthday.

In his words, he is calm about the matter and sees no point in special festivities for yet another birthday date.

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that his birthday is not a forbidden topic. “What is a birthday after all? Since I was young when everyone was happy about another birthday, I’ve always thought it is just another step towards the Lord,” he said.

“First, you just become one year older. Second, I don’t like flattery, I don’t like calls for celebration. Some even joke that the day should be declared a holiday. Total nonsense. And I’ve always tried to stay away from it,” the President noted.

Yet Aleksandr Lukashenko does not forbid people from congratulating him and is fine with it: “If a person calls me and wishes me happy birthday among other things.”

But on the whole Aleksandr Lukashenko does not think it is a great day particularly on the scale of the country. “Every person has his or her own birthday. This is why you don’t have to make yourself look like a great person while alive,” he is convinced.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the wishes and congratulations are standard on the whole. He admitted he gets a lot of flowers and gives them away. The same applies to sweets and cakes.

The head of state stressed that gifts made with one’s own hands are the most precious ones for him. For instance, this year he has been gifted a picture painted by a daughter of a Presidential Security Service officer. “The picture of me and Kolya running around with an assault rifle. It was an important moment in my life. She reproduced it rather precisely. I am certainly not an art expert but I like this picture,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

He also mentioned that reporters had gifted him a collection of T-shirts with his quotes. “‘Undress and start working!’ All the biting quotes of mine,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.