Education Minister Mikail Jabbarov , saying the 12-year education , just pointed out that this model of education has long been implemented in many countries. For example, in Canada , France, Holland and the Czech Republic the general education period is 14 years, while in Germany, the UK, Sweden , Australia and New Zealand it is 13 years. In the United States , Finland, South Korea, Poland and some other countries this time is 12 years. "In general, in the world today most of the countries secondary education is given for 12 years, according to the latest statistical data of more than 170 countries. There are not very many countries, where the duration of secondary education is 11 years."

Noting the positive effect on the overall level of education of the transition to the model 12 years of education, the minister said that the new model will be developed in a planned manner. "To ensure the transition to 12- year secondary education we need to upgrade current standards and curricula, and implement a common system of education sectoral system consisting of distinct areas of study. One of the key features of this system is that in connection with the transition to a system of 12 years of education in the country there will be applied a model of 10 years and biennial general upper secondary education. Gradual transition to such a model is planned. In this regard, one of the innovations , and , in my opinion - the most important of them will be that with the full secondary education will be sectoral division of educational institutions. Another factor relates to the fact that we raise the bar for the general education that today is 9 years by a year. 10- year general and 2-year complete secondary education will enable to properly assess the development of new outgoing calls and prepare for the future, forming full-fledged citizens," said the minister.

Trying to find out what benefits will give Azerbaijan the transition to 12-year education system, the success of which is spoken in the world, we turned to the experts who also positively evaluated this step.

From the perspective of global integration

In conversation with us, chairman of the Azerbaijani Education Ajdar Agayev said that worldwide educational program includes 12 or 15 years and is payable on this principle.

"In countries where educational programs are not covered , such education is perceived as incomplete . Therefore, the programs of the education system should be tailored to the world standards. 12 -year education will give in-depth knowledge of the subjects. Say, those who want to continue their education in universities and to explore nature and mathematics in the 12th grade will be able to listen to advanced courses in these subjects. And those who want to get humanitarian higher education will listen to, respectively, in-depth course in other subjects,"  said the expert.

Agayev believes that the foundation of their future profession will be incorporated by defining the desired direction in the 12th grade.

"Today, when dealing with first-year students of universities , it is clear that some of them say: "I was not planning to do it here. I dreamed of getting a degree in another specialty. But the points were enough to enter here." It is these issues will be resolved. During the year, they think all will weigh and choose the right direction," said Agayev.

According to the expert, the country has entered a new phase of reforms in education . The education system should include international experience and build on new models. "Update itself requires the introduction of a 12- year education,"  he said.

   

Asked about the readiness of the current education system to transition to the 12-year model, the expert said that the 11- year system was used during the Soviet era and was designed for classes with in-depth education. "We already have such an experience. And to go to a 12- year system there should be prepared an action plan and related programs. Plus it takes time to go. The question can not be solved only with 12 years of training. But a transition is possible. With regard to the current situation, the state of schools is already poor. And here we are talking about the administrative readiness," said Agayev.

  

The expert expressed the hope that the transition to 12-year education will be helpful in terms of integration into the world community.

In turn, in an interview with us Professor Shahlar Askerov also noted the benefits of 12 years of education before the 11-year one. "The time in which we live is based on science and knowledge. Today in the world there are more scientists than there were during the entire period of humanity. Therefore, in science and in particular in the field of information technologies, there is a very serious breakthrough. Probably what is happening can not be combined with the 11-year form. Increased time for education comes from the need to develop new knowledge at the youth. This is welcome . May be in the future schools will be enrolled in 13-14 years," he said.

According to the expert in the transition to 12-year education textbooks should be amended. "At least the above should be done in relation to the high school textbooks. Of these, it is necessary to exclude irrelevant topics. Preference shall be given to philosophical topics. Textbooks must be of such a kind that at the end of the school pupils are able to distinguish friend from foe and the good from the bad," said Sh. Askerov.

In no case should we hurry

The President of the Society of Free Teachers (SFT) Malahat Murshudlu believes that the transition to 12-year education will open new perspectives to the Azerbaijani education system and,  in particular, in the field of school education, for integration into Europe. "For example, this technique will provide new opportunities for education schools. Besides, the education system will give students the opportunity to receive not only knowledge but also skills. Changing programs and their modernization will allow schools to more fully cover the things most relevant for the 21st century,"  she said.

Chairman of SFT believes that the transition to 12-year education will help to prevent the practice of tutoring popular now. "This will introduce a higher stage of schooling with specialized training. Attending lessons will improve. Will improve the social status of teachers teaching in particular in high school. Will open new opportunities for the application of innovative methods in management . And this will lead to the integration of secondary education in Azerbaijan to Europe," said Murshudlu.

According to the expert we can not go directly to the 12-year education. This case should be carried out in stages, first used as an experiment in pilot schools. Should be studied economic bases of this case and the results that such a transition would cause in rural schools. Gradual transition should be based on research results.

" There are countries applying 12-year education. We need to examine the positive and negative aspects of their practice and adapt it to the realities of Azerbaijan . We must determine what elements of the education system in Europe and the CIS can apply in Azerbaijan.

The transition to such a system of education is possible only after a thorough research and two and three years of experiments. Naturally , the transition to this system starts with the primary school,"  she said.

  

Speaking of Kazakhstan's experience of education, the expert noted that this country since 2003 has set the transition to 12-year education. They introduced it as an experiment in 8 schools. Today this practice is already in 45 schools. From next year it will be implemented in stages throughout the entire country . The process should be completed in 2020. Thus, the full implementation of the process requires 17 years.

"Likewise, we can not say that the Azerbaijani education system is prepared for this, program managers and teachers are fully prepared for this transition and next year we can implement a process in itself. It's impossible. It reminded to practice six years of education embedded in the Soviet years. Of the union republics Azerbaijan was the first to apply it without preliminary experiments conducted without the preparatory work . And then we had to abandon it. So as not to get into a similar situation, I think this step should be balanced and thoughtful. Ukraine passed to 12 -year education. How they abandoned the old system of education is now much debated . Naturally, there are supporters and opponents of this process. The Minister of Education clearly raises the question "What did the 12-year education give us? It would be better if we abandon this practice. " This is the consequence of such a speedy transition. Hopefully, the transition of our education system to the 12 -year principle will not be forced," said Murshudlu.

And we in turn will hope that after the transition to 12-year education in our country, we will not regret that as they do in Ukraine and we will not hear the question "What did the 12-year education give us?"