The National Statistical Committee of Belarus has published new statistics on the number of kindergartens, schools, universities, students, and educators. According to the updated data, since 2020 the number of kindergartens has decreased by 146, and the number of schools by 192.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Education, Pavel Tereshkovich, comments on what these figures may mean for Belarusians:
“Publishing statistical data is a serious test for any official institution in the Republic of Belarus. Education statistics are no exception. At first glance, everything seems fine. For example, the number of school students has increased by 41.7 thousand over the past five years, while the number of schools has decreased (by 192). It looks like an objective process of modernization where old facilities are closed and modern ones are opened.
The number of university students has declined, but not dramatically – by 25 thousand over five years. This can be attributed to demographic problems. The same explanation is used for the reduction in the number of university lecturers. The question is only why exactly in 2021–2022 their number collapsed by as much as 8%, that is, by 1,550 people. In Minsk alone—by 900!
And how, from this perspective, can we explain the reduction in the number of schoolteachers – down by 13.2 thousand over five years – while the number of students is growing?
I would also very much like to hear an answer as to why, over the past five years, the number of children attending kindergartens has decreased by 103.1 thousand, or 24.3%! 103 thousand is roughly the population of Lida, or the average number of kindergarten attendees in Minsk. The obvious answer suggests itself: these are precisely the children whose parents decided that the best solution was to move them to places where kindergarten visits are not accompanied by prosecutors coming in to talk about ‘genocide’. But will the Ministry of Education acknowledge this?”
