Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijani teachers' pay will be raised when the state budget has enough funds for it, Education Minister Misir Mardanov said in parliament Thursday.

"I have repeatedly said that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev always keeps this issue in focus. But I cannot speak now about a pay raise for next year,'' Mardanov said at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on social policy.

A solemn ceremony was held in Baku on Friday to mark World Teachers Day.

Azerbaijan's First Lady, head of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, sent a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani teachers on this occasion.

Addressing the ceremony, Director of Baku City Education Office (BCEO) Naila Rzaquliyeva said seven schools for 5,060 students have been built in Baku this year.

BCEO operates 316 secondary, three comprehensive and five suplementary schools, as well as one school in a penal institution. The schools have 29,870 teachers and 311,695 students, Rzaquliyeva said.

Minister Mardanov said education is rapidly developing in Azerbaijan and the number of schools exceeds 2,000.

Mardanov added, "Some innovations will be applied at schools this year. Curriculum reforms have started in Azerbaijan this year and this work will continue in the future."

According to him, successful work is underway to advance teachers' ICT skills, as well as to compile new textbooks and apply new technologies.

The Ministry of Education announced earlier that 162 newly constructed schools for 43,588 students are ready to operate in the 2012-2013 academic year. Moreover, 103 schools have been completely overhauled and additional buildings bullt for 21 schools designed for 5,104 students.

As many as 1,304,687 children study at the 4,523 schools of Azerbaijan, with a population of over 9 million people. A total of 150,998 instructors teach at the schools, with 2,500 employed this year.

Furthermore, in the frame of electronic education and expansion of information and communication technologies, the number of schools using e-education has reached 40.

Some 2,000 pupils have been provided with net books. In addition, the Distant Education Center was set up for children in need of special care.

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