Forum gets underway as part of 5th Moscow International Education Fair

A forum has kicked off as part of the 5^th Moscow International Education Fair. A delegation led by deputy minister of education Firudin Qurbanov attended the Ministerial Forum “Global Dialogue on ICT and Education Innovation – Towards Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG 4)”, which was organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in partnership with UNESCO.

Participants in the forum included deputy chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Olga Golodets, Russian minister of education and science Olga Vasilyeva, deputy minister of education and science Pavel Zenkovich, head of the ICT in Education team within the section for Teacher Development and Education Policies at UNESCO Fengchun Miao, senior education executives from foreign countries and international organizations, teachers and methodologists.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijani deputy minister of education Firudin Qurbanov described the forum as a favourable opportunity for getting acquainted with the recent achievements in the education sector and exchanging views in this area.

Highlighting Azerbaijan`s success in education sector, Firudin Qurbanov said that wide application of ICT in education is one of the state policy priorities. The deputy minister noted that the application of advanced information technologies in the teaching process using international experience is enshrined in the “State Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

Firudin Qurbanov noted a special role played by information resources in implementing the strategy. “A fully-equipped state-of-the-art Data Center was established within the ministry to this end. The center allowed to create Azerbaijan Education Network, which connects all educational institutions, organizations and bodies subordinate to the ministry, and also to make – in a centralized manner – electronic textbooks and other teaching resources available online. 2,500 educational institutions, which account for 82 percent of the total number of pupils and 72 percent of the total number of teachers in the country, joined the network.”

The deputy minister said special attention is paid to the teaching of “Informatics” subject and organization of informatics Olympiads. Firudin Qurbanov said the Ministry of Education partnered with Russian “Algoritmika” company, a leading IT systems and educational software provider, to launch “Digital skills” pilot project in 45 schools in Baku. Under the project, “Informatics” subject is taught in these schools in a new format through applying advanced technologies and improving schoolchildren’s digital skills.

Firudin Qurbanov also highlighted the activity of the ministry`s electronic textbook portal (www.e-derslik.edu.az), and provided an insight into what has been done in the field of distance education. The deputy minister said Azerbaijan is one of the main bidders to host world Expo 2025 exhibition. One of the sub-themes of the exhibition is “Education of the future”, he said.

Firudin Qurbanov responded to questions from participants of the panel discussion.

The event participants then viewed the Moscow International Education Fair.

On April 18, Firudin Qurbanov addressed “Russian revolution and the history of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic: a look back a century later” international event in Moscow. The deputy minister hailed relations between the two countries in the field of education, and highlighted joint projects.

Azerbaijan`s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Russian Federation Polad Bulbuloglu also attended the event, which took place at Moscow State University.

The Moscow International Education Fair will feature nearly 1,000 events, bringing together more than 1,000 experts and 60,000 visitors. Four hundred exhibits will be on display.

On April 20, the fair will feature a meeting of education ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization for the first time in 13 years. Deputy minister of education Firudin Qurbanov will address the event.

The Moscow International Education Fair will close on April 21.