Minister criticizes education system
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 25 2004
Minister of Labor and Social Security Ali Naghiyev pounded a wave
of criticism on the education and culture fields of the country at
a session of the Milli Majlis (parliament) on Friday. The minister
regarded illiteracy as a serious problem. “The greatest disaster of
the Azeri people today is the lack of education
of our citizens. I have repeatedly stated that illiteracy is even
a greater problem than the Upper Garabagh conflict. Building and
computerizing schools is not an indicator of the education level. I
would not like for my children to live in such an immoral society.”
He said that most of the instructors teaching in the country’s
secondary schools are uneducated and asked the Education Minister
Misir Mardanov: “How many of your teachers should be allowed to speak
to an audience?”.
The minister’s criticism was not taken well by pro-government deputies,
who are used to saying and hearing only the words of praise. These
MPs were trying to interrupt Naghiyev’s angry speech by all means,
and such utterances like “speak of the budget”, and “this discussion
is out of place” sounded in the room.
It remains to be seen where the pressing problems of the people can
be discussed, if not in the country’s parliament.
Nonetheless, the Minister was firm and continued his furious speech,
even after his microphone was deliberately turned off.
The parliament speaker’s attempts to calm the minister down were
unsuccessful as well.
With regard to problems in the country’s culture field, Naghiyev
emphasized that numerous works by classical Azeri writers, such as
“Vagif” drama, are not staged, saying that such writers as Jafar
Jabbarli, Mirza Fatali Akhundov, Huseyn Javid, have been forgotten,
and regarded this as the “nation’s tragedy”. He noted with grief that
the Azerbaijan Drama Theater, which has contributed a great deal to
the formation of the nation, is falling apart.
Speaker Alasgarov, who seemed to have lost himself, had to say
“Everything the minister said is true, and problems of education and
culture are directly related to the budget. However, specific facts
should be cited”.
Education Minister Mardanov responded with a reciprocal wave of
criticism. He termed Naghiyev’s allegations as groundless and biased,
saying that no one has the moral right to call the nation ‘uneducated’.