“Elementary textbooks are confusing and distracting”
Yaseman Shahverdiyeva is worried about her children, Seljan and Aliya. She is not satisfied nor with the textbooks, neither with the level of education offered by the school. Because of that, Shahverdiyeva sends her daughters to a private tutor. According to her, texts and workbooks are so confusing that it is very difficult for the children to learn and study by themselves.
But she is not alone. In recent years, many children have to go to tutoring due to unstructured and not age-appropriate textbooks. Parents complain mainly of the high information load, with unnecessary technicalities for small children.
Educator and education expert Aghalar Garibov made a in-depth analysis of a textbooks in Azerbaijan and agrees with the unsatisfied parents. He believes the authors loaded the books with too complex information for children and that is normal they show difficulty when learning about advance subjects. In addition, the pedagogue found numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes in the textbooks.
Garibov illustrates an example of books’ complexity:
“On one textbook, a student from the third grade is asked to think deeply on a passage from Ali Karim’s poem “Adam”, which goes by “A person must first be responsible for his conscience”. It is absurd to demand deep thoughts about conscience from children at this age”.
Other examples found by the educator include familiarity with monuments such as the Heops Pyramid, complex special geometry problems and computer diagrams.
Teacher Malahat Abdullayeva, who has been working as a class teacher for 35 years, agrees with the education expert. According to her, in recent years, textbooks tire not only students, but also her as a teacher, because of the complex terms employed.
Abduallayeva explains that “the first grade textbook has cartoons and difficult words about space. I understand that it is normal somewhere to discuss the works of foreign writers and poets, to talk about comprehensive topics. However, it will be better if it is given in accordance with the child’s brain and understanding”.
Minister of Education Emin Amrullayev expressed his opinion on the content of education and parents’ complaints about the large number of subjects in the “Hadaf” program broadcast on AZTV:
“I think their complaints are justified, the burden of education has increased to 17 subjects. Students are loading. Necessary subjects for them should be maintained, we are working on it.”
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Cesarat Valehov, did not answer Meydan TV’s written questions on the subject.
To read the full in-depth analysis of the textbooks’ content in Azerbaijani language click here.
