Career guidance

AGROGROUPS PROBLEM FIELD

On August 3,  a video conference was held, at which preliminary results of the work of agricultural groups in the Mogilev region were summed up. The initiative belonged to The Mogilev State Regional Institute for the Development of Education. The moderator of the discussion was the head of the department of  education organizers and the pedagogical process of the institute Svetlana Selezneva. Among the participants there were representatives of BSAA, and a number of schools of the Mogilev region, where agricultural groups worked.

BSAA was represented by the first vice-rector Andrei Kolmykov, the dean of the agronomy faculty Natalya Duktova and the head of the career guidance department Andrei Gornovsky.

S.Selezneva outlined the topic of the upcoming conversation: "Today, we have the opportunity not only to assess the results of the work done, but also to identify problem areas". She referred to a recent survey. It will help to answer the question of what the future of the agrogroups is. And what needs to be done to improve their performance.

The first vice-rector of BSAA A.Kolmykov called this topic relevant. Andrei Kolmykov presented those areas of activity in which the administration of the academy and the faculty are involved. The work is carried out on a large-scale basis - from the methodological support of agricultural groups to the organization of excursions for school students directly at the academy. A.V. Kolmykov, who sees the whole process "from inside", clearly outlined the problematic areas of agrogroups. Their presence is indicated by the results of admission of school graduates to higher agrarian educational institutions. There are four of them in Belarus. And if in the whole republic they received only 17% of those children who graduated from agrogroups this year, then BSAA was preferred by the most graduates of this relatively new form of vocational guidance. Specific figures were given by A.A.Gornovsky in his speech. Referring to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, he said that 74 graduates of agricultural groups entered BSAA, from 21 to 30 people entered the other three universities in the country. A. Gornovsky also analyzed the "geography" of these 74 yesterday's schoolchildren who made the right choice in favor of the country's oldest agrarian university. 26% of them are residents of Mogilev region, 24% - neighboring Vitebsk, 10% - Minsk, 8% - Gomel, 6% - Brest and 0% - from Grodno region.

The management of BSAA thanked all those who worked with the agricultural groups, and, taking this opportunity, asked the participants of the video conference with a request to convey to those graduates who for various reasons have not yet become a student the information about vacant places for admission to the Academy. All the necessary information about it is posted on the academy website.

The director of the institute M.M. Zhudro, who summed up the conversation, also said that this year the entrance campaign to higher educational establishments of the republic faced a "demographic problem". Even Belarusian State University, Belarusian-Russian University, Kuleshov University in Mogilev and some other faced the need for additional recruitment.

Judging by the number of proposals made during the video conference, the conversation was productive. Previously, several tasks had been defined on the problem "field" of agrogroups. BSAA offered training sessions directly on the basis of the Academy. The idea of summer camps for students of agricultural classes as a new form of career guidance was also supported by the management of the Academy. Excellent conditions for this kind of work have been created at BSAA. The legal provisions of the law may need to be taken into account to consolidate it. As an option, a proposal was made to study the issue of concluding contractual relations directly with the parents of agrogroups students, as it is a question of providing rather expensive educational services. In short, there are still a lot of questions left. All interested parties will have to deal with them closely. After all, it cannot be considered normal that 83% of agrogroups graduates used this 2-year republican project as free tutoring, and then ignored admission to agricultural universities.

During the conversation, the name of the graduate of the Gorbotsevichi secondary school of the Bobruisk district, Katerina Kuksenok was heard. She was the winner of the regional Olympiad of students of specialized classes of an agrarian orientation. And, as her teachers said, starting from the 8th grade she knew that she would study at an agricultural university. After her graduation from agrogroup at her school, the girl entered the Faculty of Biotechnology and Aquaculture at BSAA.

But, it seems, such examples, so far an exception to the rules.

Lyudmila GONCHAROVA.
Photo: Elena TUZHIKOVA.