Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova, AzerNews Staff Writer

Azerbaijan will celebrate the Knowledge Day, the first day of the academic year, on September 15. Every year, the first day of the school year is broadly marked around the country with gatherings, flowers and smiles.

According to Azerbaijan's Education Ministry, 130,450 first-graders are expected in schools this year, which is approximately 4 percent (5,046 students) more than in 2011.

Azerbaijani legislation indicates that all mentally and physically healthy six-year-old children are to enroll in school before Sept.15.

Progress in education system

The Ministry of Education also noted that 162 newly constructed schools, which will hold 43,588 students, are ready to begin work in the 2012-2013 academic year. Moreover, 103 schools have been completely overhauled, while 21 schools now have additional buildings designated for 5,104 pupils.

4,523 Azerbaijani educational institutions will admit a total of 1,304,687 schoolchildren in the country of over 9 million people, who will be educated by 150,998 teachers; 2,500 of them were hired this year out of 16,000 applicants.

Furthermore, in the frame of electronic education and expansion of information and communications technologies, the number of schools using e-education has reached 40. 2,000 pupils were given net books. In addition, the Distant Education Center was set up for children in need of special care.

About 500 education centers became involved in online education recently and the number of Azerbaijani schools applying it reached 1,200.

In order to implement the ICT project, 52 percent of teachers have qualified for ICT use.

Exciting day

The beginning of the new school year is an important day not only for students, but also for teachers and parents. However, this day is more significant for first-grade students.

First-graders' parents have to think about the school and first teacher, buy the needed school supplies for the first time. According to the Education Ministry's decision, Azerbaijani school students have to wear a school uniform, which is of two types -- for the children of 1-6 and 7-11 grades.

Teachers assert that preparatory school is preferable mostly for the first-grader himself, as the curriculum is sophisticated and children need some background knowledge to study on par with their peers.

However, preparatory school is not compulsory and parents who have enough time often opt to prepare their children for school on their own. One of the first-graders' father said that he taught his son to read and the kid already knew the times table and is eager to go to school.

On the contrary, many kids go to prep school after kindergarten. For instance, one first-grader who wants to become a pilot attended prep school for some time and cannot wait September 15 to come.

It is worth mentioning that the number of students who graduated from high school with distinction increased to 138 in 2012, while in 2011 there were 53 medalists.