The 13th Congress of Teachers and Education Workers in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) was held on 5-9 October 2015 in Yakutsk. The theme of the Congress was defined as “Education and Society: Integration in the Name of the Child”. The Congress included such activities as round table discussions, forums, and panel discussions. It was aimed to create a dialogue that would allow to generate and share new ideas, discuss emerging trends and determine strategic objectives for the development of the educational system in the region.
The Congress of teachers and the teaching community has become a platform for the discussion of the current trends in the development of the educational systems, a start for new social initiatives, a platform for constructive criticism and the meeting place for adherents. During the congress, the strategy for the educational development of the Republic Sakha (Yakutia) until 2020 was discussed, aimed at the establishment of effective mechanisms to ensure access to quality education in the North and in the Arctic regions.
The cooperation with UNESCO was planned during the Congress. UNESCO IITE was represented by its Officer-in-Charge Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov. As the Honorary Member of the Congress, Prof. Khoroshilov took part in the round table discussions on the development of the open school concept, held meetings and discussions with the regional ASPnet coordinator and the heads of UNESCO ASPnet schools and delivered a keynote speech. He also handed the official certificates of UNESCO ASPnet signed by the UNESCO DG Irina Bokova to the three educational institutions of the Region: Kindergarten #51 in Yakutsk "Keskil", Hatylynskoy High School of Churapcha region, and Ytyk Kyuёlskiy – secondary school #1 of Tattinsky District. The educational community of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) pays a lot of attention to the development of the international cooperation in education and to the participation in the implementation of UNESCO's programme "Education for All" as well as to further the development of the cooperation with UNESCO IITE. During several meetings and negotiations between Prof. Khoroshilov and the regional authorities including Prime-Minister Ms. Galina Danchikova, Minister of Education Ms. Feodosia Gabysheva, First President of Republic Sakha (Yakutia), Deputy of State Duma Mr. Mikhail Nikolaev prospects and concrete forms of collaboration with IITE have been discussed. In addition, Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov negotiated the issues of cooperation with the regional institutes for education development and teacher training, the Institute for Innovation Technologies in Education, the Children’s Health and Recreation Center “Sosnovy Bor”. Prof. Khoroshilov also visited a special correctional school for children with special needs, where he delivered a lecture on ICT in inclusive education in the context of UNESCO goals and priorities.
UNESCO IITE’s participation in the 13th Congress of Teachers and Education Workers reinforced the Institute’s already long-standing trusting relationship with the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Collaboration on the project “Teachers of the Arctic” in Yakutia had positive impacts both on the theoretical and the strategic development and on the applied results. The mutual intention to continue the cooperation was expressed with the emphasis on the implementation of information technologies in education and the improvement of the professional competencies of the teaching staff.