Vilnius, Lithuania Issue 8(18), 2010

System of as a tool of regime empowerment

Was Karl Marx right? Do material conditions re- state control, is heavily ideologized and impedes ally shape minds? At least the Belarusian leaders the constitutional through its clearly do not think so. They realize pretty well discriminatory nature. that education is the most powerful tool of any Dmitry Gomeniuk presents and analyses the results society. The economic prosperity, social stability, of a recent survey measuring the student-friendliness and overall quality of life depend on the efficiency, of Belarusian on four rating scales: the openness, flexibility and quality of the educational level of efficacy of student self-governance, guaran- system. However education may also be one of the tees of the basic students’ rights, independence of most efficient means to control society, especially student media, and the general rating – the most when put under strict government check. This student-friendly higher educational establishment. issue of Bell looks deeper into the paradoxes of His research reveals how a system of mutually low the interaction between Belarusian political re- expectations occurs that naturally hampers both gime and Belarusian system of education. Volha the quality of education and diligence (as well as Ramanenka argues that the Belarusian system of activism) of the students. education not only doesn’t provide proper quality of education but also works against some of the constitutional principles as it remains under strict Živilė Dambrauskaitė, Editor

Educational System in : Soviet Traditions vs. Contemporary Changes

Contents Volha Ramanenka is the time when a person makes a choice of the CEU Student, LLM in Human Rights future perception of the world, and forms a certain attitude towards the society he/she lives in. Educational Educational System in Belarus: Soviet S y s t e m i n B e l a r u s : Traditions vs. Contemporary Changes Soviet Past and Soviet Present Soviet Traditions Education plays a crucial role in formation and Education system in Belarus, formed in the old vs. Contemporary development of every society. A certain system of Soviet times, still has strong Soviet traditions. The Changes values, which have a direct impact on our mental- Belarusian government still supports the model Volha Ramanenka ity and national identity, is cultivated not only in of subordinated educational system, which does CEU Student, LLM the family, but also by the educational system. It not possess any kind of autonomy. In his numer- in Human Rights is a well known fact, that many former social and ous interviews, President Lukashenka repeatedly 1 political reformists were inspired by their stated that the educational system “shall remain professors. Therefore, an analysis of the Belarusian unchangeable” [Belta news agency, 08.06.2010]. He educational system is extremely important for bet- also underlined, that “we do not have the right to Does Minsk ter understanding of the problems existing in the have any higher break the system of education.” [Belta, 08.06.2010]. Belarusian society. It means that the government cultivates the idea of educational Belarusian education system is an integral part of Soviet education as the best and most appropriate establishments the authoritarian regime in Belarus. It is especially for the Belarusian society. However, the situation is for students? true about the system of higher education, which quite the opposite. The Soviet system of education Dmitry Gomeniuk has a direct impact on forming a personality at a has proved its inefficiency. Such system provided 4 very important stage of his/her development. This education, which was unable to meet the real needs 1 8 (18), 2010

of the society. It was the so-called “limited” educa- ment of the state, its political, economic and social A certain system of tion. As a result, graduates were good professionals life, which is supported by majority of the citizens. in the conditions existing in the country at that In other words, it shall express the interests of values, which have moment. However, they could not adjust to the the society as a whole. In a democratic society new requirements and new circumstances. In many ideology provides a liberal-democratic consensus, a direct impact on cases, Soviet specialists were unable to undertake contributes to social cohesion and development our mentality and any constructive actions in a rapidly changing en- of civil society. The basis for such ideology is the vironment. It was especially remarkable after the Constitution of the State, which contains the main national identity, is collapse of the USSR, when Soviet-educated people, provisions on how the citizens wish to establish cultivated not only in who came to power at that time, rejected the pos- legal, economic and social order in their country. sibility of borrowing new education methods and It is true that ideology is widely spread through the the family, but also techniques from the democratic countries of the system of education, which, as a rule, is created by by the educational West. Many people with higher education did not the state with an active support of various institu- have the possibility to improve their knowledge and tions of civil society – funds, social and political system. upgrade their skills on the territory of the former organizations, churches, etc. Education provides soviet Republic. As a consequence, they left the gradual integration of an individual into society. country to pursue their careers abroad. Unfortu- As a result, he/she emerges as an independent nately, the Belarusian government still does not subject in different social, political and economic recognize its mistakes. Nowadays, most Belarusian relations. In other words, educational system shall university professors and lecturers do not use new help a person to think critically and build his/her educational methods and techniques, they just use relations with authorities and society on a legal the system, which was formed a long time ago and is basis. But if an ideology is used in order to support still reluctant to any kind of innovations. As a result, anti-democratic political regime (authoritarian in the entire system of the Belarusian education has this case) it might become an effective instrument not progressed beyond the late eighties. for “brainwashing”. It will be used to influence a student’s mind, to create socialistic illusions of Ideology as Integral Part of changes and wellbeing of people in the country. Belarusian education As a consequence of strong ideological pressure, the majority of Belarusian youth are deprived of According to the information, posted on the Minis- freedom and the sense of responsibility to realize try’s of Education web-site, there are 44 state-owned it. The authorities are trying to impose on students and 10 private universities in Belarus. The number one defined way of thinking, aiming to eliminate of students for every 10 000 people has increased individuality, creativeness and ability of thinking in from 180 to 435. Institutions of higher education different categories. As a result, the Belarusian youth, prepare specialists in 361 professions. Despite these having one-sided perception of the world, becomes facts, none of the universities possess their own helpless in the society. Furthermore, the Belarusian autonomy. The system of education in Belarus is ideology proclaims Belarus as a prosperous and dependent on the government: university rectors well-developed country. Obviously, that impedes are usually appointed but not elected; there is a the progress in development of the country, because strict standardization of educational programs, improvement is impossible without dissatisfaction control over professors and students, as well as and critical thinking. huge bureaucracy at universities. It is not surprising that ideology has become an integral part of the educational system in Belarus. A course of the state Pale shadow of the Bologna system ideology is compulsory for students at all universi- Belarus is the only country in Europe, which has ties. That directly contradicts the Constitution of not joined the . The strongest argu- the Republic of Belarus which explicitly prohibits ment against such accession is that the Belarusian establishment of a single ideology in the country. education system is the best system, which has its At present the educational system has become own way of development. Recently the Belarusian an instrument of ideology in Belarus; teachers do President has stated that Belarus will begin the proc- their best to provide ideological legitimacy to the ess of joining the Bologna process. It is necessary Belarusian authorities despite the interests of the to mention, that the question of participation of Belarusian society. As the President mentioned in Belarus in the Bologna process is raised constantly, one of his interviews, “teachers who do not agree however, the final decision has not been taken. As it with the ideological policy of the State can simply has already been mentioned earlier, the Belarusian leave their jobs” [Charter97, 15.01.2009]. In many education system has not changed much during this Western countries teachers and students at schools time, and most of the changes were actually minor and universities can freely express their opinion and formal. Belarus ratified the European Cultural about the elected authorities. In Belarus, they are Convention in 1993 and could have joined the Bolo- afraid of being expelled or fired. This is already a gna process a long time ago. However, reform of the violation of their rights, guaranteed not only by the education system could become a serious threat for Constitution, but also by the international docu- the existing political regime. The establishment of ments, ratified by Belarus. No one denies that there new independent schools, colleges and universities is an ideology in every state, even a democratic one, would deprive the authorities of the total control but it should contain an idea about the develop- over education, which means that its influence 2 8 (18), 2010

on socio-political processes in the country would fears of the Belarusian government in relation to The system of noticeably decrease. Thereat, European Humanities Bologna process is a possible “brain drain”. University, the first truly independent and demo- Well, it would be quite reasonable to ask then: why education in Belarus cratic university in Belarus which refused to follow would the “brain drain” occur in a country with is dependent on the ideological orders, was closed down by the Be- the best education system in Europe? The officials larusian government. “We must follow the method from the Ministry of Education claim, education the government: of education, which we have already determined…, has become mass and almost two thirds of gradu- university rectors are without deep improvement”, warned the President ates have a problem of finding a job every year. No [Belta, 08.06.2010]. Moreover, the officials try to one would argue a certain level of unemployment usually appointed convince our society in high quality of Belarusian is natural for every country. Nevertheless, the education, using the argument that a lot of foreign but not elected; strict situation in Belarus is more than critical, that is students come to study in Belarus. However, such why “brain drain” is a logical consequence of the standardization statement is rather exaggerated. Hardly could it be conditions we have. stated that there are many foreign students in the of educational country. Belarus does have some foreign students, Some Other Drawbacks of the mainly from India, China or Venezuela, who come programs and control Belarusian Education System to Belarus in order to get education which is rather over professors and cheap than of higher quality. Hardly can they speak • City vs. village students prevails, fluent Russian, not even talking about Belarusian. Following the old Soviet traditions, there is a But because of money they pay, universities try to system of obligatory employment of college as well as huge ignore their poor academic results. graduates. It is a consequence of the govern- bureaucracy at Our graduates cannot find any job abroad, be- mental policy of rural development and revival cause in most cases the Belarusian diploma is not of villages. However, in modern Belarus, the sys- universities. recognized and they have to retake exams or even tem works the other way around: students from study again to obtain a diploma, which will be in- villages are not placed on job positions in cities ternationally recognized. Obviously, the further the as it used to be in the USSR. On the contrary, Belarusian system of education is from the Bologna students from cities are sent to do obligatory jobs in villages, usually without proper condi- process, the less attractive it is not only for foreign tions. According to a public opinion poll, 76 % of but also for Belarusian students. respondents believe that the system of obligatory However, there have been some changes, which employment of graduates is just a limitation of slightly resemble the Bologna system. According the freedom of choice and two years thrown out to the law on Higher Education (2007) the present of a graduate’s life [mojazarplata.by, 30.09.2010]. classification of higher educational system consists However, 20.19% of respondents say, the system of 2 levels: “qualified specialist” and “master”. The provides a guaranteed job after graduation. first stage of education prepares qualified specialists. Still, 2.5% of respondents state that obligatory The term of education usually lasts for 4-5 years. employment is not a chance to earn money or The time may be exceeded if the specialization is of to solve the housing problems (1,54%). high difficulty. The second stage of higher education • Accessibility of higher education provides the possibility to obtain a master degree and is focused on training scholar and teaching staff. Recently, with the adoption of the Presidential The time of education is 1 to 2 years. Despite the Decree on admission to institutions of higher above-mentioned innovations, which are primary and specialized secondary education, the ac- formal, the content and methods of the Belarusian cessibility of higher education was put into higher education have almost not been changed. question. Those applying to major in “public Furthermore, the draft of the new Code of Educa- administration”, “public administration and tion does not comply with the main principles of law”, “public administration and economics”, the Bologna system. Thereby, an attempt to copy “international relations”, “international law”, “economics law”, “journalism”, “international certain Western standards, incompatible with the journalism”, “customs service” are required to ingrained soviet methods of education, makes it pass professional and psychological interview useless and inefficient. Obviously, it is just a disguise and submit a recommendation letter from the before the presidential elections and a “friendly sign” local authorities. Obviously, this requirement is for Europe in the situation of conflict with Russia. established for the purpose of selecting young Hardly will the Belarusian government, which people who support the existing political regime. closed down independent institutions of higher It is the best way to hire the “right” persons to education and impeded creation of new private the institutions of public administration. We universities, take any effective steps and implement should underline that this requirement violates the plans it proclaims. That would definitely lead Article 49 of the Constitution, which guarantees to the loss of its total control over the Belarusian the right to education. society. Furthermore, education reforms need serious financial investment. At the same time, if • Discriminative nature of the Belarusian educa- realized softly and gradually, they would not reflect tion so hard on the state budget, especially if the results The Constitution prohibits any kind of dis- promise to be effective. One of the most obvious crimination. Moreover, it was repeatedly 3 8 (18), 2010

stated by the Belarusian officials that “there is hardly can we talk about well developed system The very historical no discrimination” in the system of education. of higher education in Belarus, which is under However, we cannot ignore the so called posi- permanent governmental control and ideological point of universities tive discrimination in the sphere of education. pressure. Abolition of ideology courses at col- is that they were Privileges for entrants from rural areas are a leges and universities, participation in Bologna good example of that. process would doubtlessly provide positive created for students. In conclusion we should mention that despite results. Such reforms could improve the quality If not for the some advantages of the Belarusian educational of the Belarusian education and bring it up to system (highly qualified teaching staff, well the European level. But which system (political students, universities regulated methods of the educational process), or educational) should be changed first? would not exist.

Does Minsk have any higher educational establishments for students?

Dmitry Gomeniuk student-friendly higher educational establishment. In the opinion of Minsk students, the most student- In the Middle Ages students and teachers gathered friendly higher educational establishment in 2010 in corporations, later called universities, which is the Academy of Public Administration under the provided education. Each corporation had its own aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus. rules – the Statute, which was to be observed by It also scored best in the rating of the efficacy of both teachers and students. Statutes were created in order to make the process of education more students’ self-governance and independence of effective. It reflected the interests of both students student media. I should point out, the places in and teachers. University rector was elected by senior the rating were distributed not according to the students and was supposed to defend and represent absolute figures, but relatively to each other, i.e. the interests of the corporation. There was practi- the Academy of Public Administration received cally no university administration; everything was 15.6 point out of 33 possible. focused on the education process. We, as researchers, were quite surprised by the The very historical point of universities is that they results, as in reality the freedom of speech, freedom were created for students. If not for the students, of opinion and other fundamental human rights are universities would not exist. That approach inspired oppressed in this establishment of higher education. the Youth Union Group “Student Council” (or Student mass media cover everything but student StudRada) to create a rating of “The Most Student- problems, and avoid conflicts with the administra- Friendly Higher Educational Establishment in tion, just as in the majority of other universities. Minsk. 2010”. About 800 students from 11 Minsk Student self-governance is represented by a structure higher educational establishments took part in the which is an obedient hand of the administration, questionnaire survey held in July 2010. successfully imitating activity in the culture and entertainment sphere. It’s worth pointing out that the rating is a mere reflection of the respondents’ opinion. The par- Analyzing the result we can come to a conclusion ticipants of the survey answered the questions, and about faulty methodology of the research. However, each answer received a certain number of points. the results would not change if we keep the condition For instance, if the question “Does your university or that we study only student opinions. An objective faculty have a students’ newspaper?” was answered situation can be reflected only by an independent positively, the university was given 1 point; if the research with such means as external observation, answer was negative, the university received -1 interviews of students and representatives of the (minus one) point. This way, a respondent could administration, etc. give his or her educational establishment from In our opinion, the reason for such results is the 33 to minus 17 points. The average grade of each inner climate at the Academy of Public Adminis- university was calculated as a simple average of the tration, which is imbued with overall support to answers. The questionnaires were distributed among the principle of power vertical. The students of the students both on paper in student campuses the Academy are the future officials, members of and in the electronic form in the Internet. the state vertical. Thereafter, already on that stage As a result we created four rating scales: the level the Academy does not encourage critical think- of efficacy of student self-governance, guarantees ing and, even more so, free expression of opinion. of the basic students’ rights, independence of The students of the Academy, just as of the other student media, and the general rating – the most Minsk colleges, demonstrate passive attitude to 4 8 (18), 2010

the environment. In other words, the students the newspapers are entertaining, because they can’t In view of the current do notice the existence of student newspapers write about the problems existing in a university; but they don’t know what the papers are writing they can’t write because of censorship; censorship education system in about – “about some good things for sure”; student means that no one even tries to write about relevant self-governance exists, but “it most probably helps problems; if not writing about problems – then Belarus, majority of students to solve their problems”, while “no one writing about something not dangerous. young people come seems to violate students’ rights”. Students’ passivity As a whole, the respondents evaluated democratic and the dominating ideology of the “right course” to universities for nature and independence of student media as 2.57 result in good opinion of the students about their points out of 5. We observe the same trend as with anything but high higher educational establishment. the student self-governance -- “they do something, The general picture of the universities covered by and that’s enough”. The newspapers satisfy some of quality education. the research leaves much to be desired. Let’s look the students’ needs (to learn about culture activities They are not into the details. in their university), but, as we see from the results of the study, this is not enough. interested in having Efficacy of Students’ Self-Governance impact on university Guarantees of Basic Student Rights Student self-government is a structure, created for processes, as their representing and defending interests of students. From the data of the survey we have grounds to For the research purposes we chose three indices of suppose that about 37% of students are forced to main goal is to efficacy of the students’ self-governance structure: perform different types of work by their college receive a diploma democratic elections, activity, and students’ opinion administration. The kinds of work most often about its work. performed by students are the so-called “subbot- with minimal niks”, movement of furniture, cleaning rooms and The results of the research demonstrate that the windows, unloading trucks. University administra- intellectual, nervous majority of students do not know and are not in- tions use students’ work in order to save money. terested in the way the students’ self-government and physical efforts. However, we have also registered facts of students is elected. This is possible for a number of reasons. being forced to do community work (in the an- Firstly, in view of the current education system swers of the respondents we often read “we were in Belarus, the majority of young people come to sent to the works on reconstruction of the Opera universities for anything but high quality educa- Theater”). The practice of forcing students to do tion. They are not interested in having impact on unpaid work, which exists from the Soviet times, university processes, as their main goal is to receive is a serious violation of students’ rights. a diploma with minimal intellectual, nervous and physical efforts. Secondly, there are “conscious” Over 50% of students do not believe in the pos- students, who are well aware of “who calls the tune” sibility of replacing “inadequate” teachers. This is and are not interested in activity of the students’ connected with the absence of real replacement self-governments. mechanisms. Going back to the principle “a uni- versity is created for students”, we can say that the The survey results demonstrate that the students possibility to replace teachers is a good indicator of think of the students’ self-governance as of the a democratic and student-friendly higher education body that deals with entertainment, and not with establishment. Furthermore, this is a guarantee of defending the rights of students and representing the quality of education. How can one learn the their interests. We believe the main factor that material if a teacher responds to student’s questions forms such an opinion is the basic principle of the with anger and outrage? In such cases we need a Belarusian education system that is directly linked to working mechanism of replacing such teachers the current political system – “you can do anything without loss for both students and teaching staff. but politics”. In university environment that means an informal ban on the students’ participation in The majority of students who took part in the solving the most important university problems, survey (83%) address dean’s office for solution of and, as a result, leaving the self-government in the their problems, as the body where they can receive sphere of culture and entertainment. most effective support. This way, student organiza- tions are far behind dean’s offices as the structures In the upshot, students rated their satisfaction with that are supposed to assist students. That is so for the work of students’ self-government as 3.25 (out a number of reasons: students do not believe that of 5). Students seem to be satisfied with the work of students’ organizations can actually help them; the students’ self-governance. However, the need student organizations do not demonstrate their in real representation of the students’ interests is capabilities; furthermore, student organizations are not met. really unable to help and solve the problems. On the basis of the research data we come to Independence of Student Media conclusion that students do not enjoy full rights as The majority of student newspapers published in participants of the education process in Belarusian Minsk universities offer entertainment materials universities. The system that has been formed for and cover university and faculty events. If they many years treats students as ordinary consumers, write about student problems, they write about whose opinion is not important, and whose rights some “general” things that do not apply to their can be violated. The state ideology that imbues the university. Here we have the same vicious circle: whole education system leaves small chances for 5 8 (18), 2010

development of critical thinking, making a student towards solution of the problem would be for uni- The state ideology a powerless creature fed with “entertainment versity administration to stop all sanctions against slops”. That entails certain attitude on the students’ student newspapers that cover such situations. In that imbues the whole side – young people come to higher educational their turn, student media should not be afraid of education system establishments only to get their diplomas, while writing about the problems, and stop filling all the their main task is to obtain them with maximum paper space with fun stuff. leaves small chances fun and minimum efforts. For the process of change to begin, administration for development of We believe the students rights should not be violated of higher educational establishments should change under any circumstances. That presumes certain their attitude to students – they should treat stu- critical thinking, efforts from both the administration (not to violate dents as full members of the educational process, making a student the rights) and the students’ self-governments important for efficacy and quality of the education (to defend the rights). University administration system. Students’ opinion should be taken into ac- a powerless should hire paid staff for doing various jobs within count in as many spheres as possible. creature fed with campuses, or use students’ work on the voluntary In their turn, the bodies of student self-governance basis. Universities should introduce mechanisms should make efforts to implement changes, review- “entertainment of receiving feedback from the students about their ing their priorities and activities. Change of the slops”. satisfaction with the education process and of real election procedure for the students’ self-governance students’ control over teachers’ work. should become a top priority. Self-governance bodies should be elected in an open, public and democratic election. Then the changes should occur Recommendations in everyday activity of the students’ self-government. Student media should be able and know how to That does not mean that all fun activities should write about student problems, about concrete situ- be abandoned as a whole. That means, the student ations of violation of basic student rights (such as self-governments should give the main priority to freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, freedom defending the rights of students, representing their of association, etc.) This will help to solve these interests, and helping them in finding solutions to problems in a constructive manner. The main step their problems.

Opinion expressed by the authors of “Bell” does not necessarily correspond with that of the Eastern Europe Studies Centre.

TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEXT ISSUE OF “BELL”, PLEASE CONTACT:

Zivile Dambrauskaite Phone: +370 5 2705993 Nordic Council of Ministers Fax: +370 5 2736953 E-mail: [email protected] EASTERN EUROPE STUDIES CENTRE

6