AZE.US
Azerbaijani journalist Hamid Hamidov has sharply criticized Minister of Science and Education Emin Amrullayev, saying the country’s education system has been deteriorating for decades and still lacks real reform.
Hamidov said the decline began after the collapse of the Soviet Union, stressing that his point was not nostalgia for the Soviet period. According to him, school education in Azerbaijan began to lose quality in the 1990s and continued to weaken under successive ministers.
He said that although several education ministers have served since independence, he has not seen the kind of systemic change needed to bring Azerbaijani schools in line with the demands of the modern world.
Speaking about Amrullayev, who has held the post since 2020, Hamidov said the minister had not addressed the most fundamental problems in the education system.
“In six years, I have not heard anything concrete from him on the most important problems in education,” Hamidov said.
He named outdated textbooks, weak school programs and the absence of deep reform among the main issues. According to Hamidov, the world is changing rapidly, while Azerbaijan’s school system remains behind the times.
He also criticized the ministry’s focus on issues such as teacher certification, school uniforms and restrictions on mobile phones, saying these topics distract from more serious structural problems.
Hamidov argued that banning phones in schools would not solve the core issues. He said students would still find ways to use their devices, while teachers would eventually become tired of enforcing the rules.
The journalist also addressed the Russian-language sector in Azerbaijani schools. He said any changes in this area should happen naturally, not through bans or administrative pressure.
According to Hamidov, instead of fighting the Russian sector, the state should improve the quality of teaching the Azerbaijani language, including in Russian-language classes. He said current Azerbaijani-language textbooks for the Russian sector are poorly written and often fail to take into account the age and needs of young children.
At the same time, Hamidov stressed that the state language must be developed. He said the problem is not limited to Russian-language schools, arguing that the level of Azerbaijani is also declining among native speakers.
Hamidov said Azerbaijani schools should prepare children for the future, not the past. In his view, students should be able to speak Azerbaijani, Russian and English well, especially as artificial intelligence and new technologies continue to develop.
“For me personally, Emin Amrullayev is one big disappointment,” Hamidov said, adding that the consequences of his work would have to be dealt with for a long time.
“The saddest thing is that it will not even be us who will have to deal with it, but the generation of our children,” he said.
AZE.US