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IWPR: Father and son Aliyevs are featured in any school textbook in Azerbaijan
19:54 13/04/2013 » SOCIETY
The personality cult around the ruling family of Azerbaijan has worked
its way into the books used by every schoolchild in the Republic, says
Shahla Sultanova in an article written in IWPR.
`Open any schoolbook in Azerbaijan and you will spot a picture of the
late president Heydar Aliyev, perhaps followed by a photo of his son
Ilham who succeeded him as head of state. The pictures of Heydar
Aliyev are captioned `Founder of Modern Azerbaijan' or `Azerbaijan's
Greatest Leader,' Shahla Sultanova says.
According to the article, stories featuring the late Aliyev, and even
proverbs attributed to him, can be found in textbooks aimed at
different age-groups.
`In the first-year textbook for Azerbaijani language, pupils read an
exchange between a boy and his grandmother, in which she explains that
Heydar signifies strength, and was the name of a great leader who will
be remembered forever. In the third grade, he appears in a story
called `A Wise Leader', in which a child refugee from the war in
Nagorny Karabakh assures the president that everyone has faith in him.
Pupils a year older get to read his sayings, such as, `To be a leader
and to educate, one needs the moral right,' the author says.
Malahet Murshudlu, chair of the Free Teachers' Union, disagreed, and
likened the constant flow of praise to the enforced adulation for
Lenin and Stalin in earlier times. `From an early age, children's
minds are being shaped within this ideology,' she said.
Rafiq Ismayilov, who has written many of the textbooks used to teach
Azerbaijani, acknowledged that quotes from Heydar Aliyev probably
improved one's chances of getting a work approved.
`No one openly ordered or recommended that I include texts about him,
but it's important to do so in order to get a textbook approved. I
sense that education ministry likes it and wants it, I believe my
books are really good for schools. Of course I want to get them
approved,' he said.
Source: Panorama.am
From: A. Papazian
19:54 13/04/2013 » SOCIETY
The personality cult around the ruling family of Azerbaijan has worked
its way into the books used by every schoolchild in the Republic, says
Shahla Sultanova in an article written in IWPR.
`Open any schoolbook in Azerbaijan and you will spot a picture of the
late president Heydar Aliyev, perhaps followed by a photo of his son
Ilham who succeeded him as head of state. The pictures of Heydar
Aliyev are captioned `Founder of Modern Azerbaijan' or `Azerbaijan's
Greatest Leader,' Shahla Sultanova says.
According to the article, stories featuring the late Aliyev, and even
proverbs attributed to him, can be found in textbooks aimed at
different age-groups.
`In the first-year textbook for Azerbaijani language, pupils read an
exchange between a boy and his grandmother, in which she explains that
Heydar signifies strength, and was the name of a great leader who will
be remembered forever. In the third grade, he appears in a story
called `A Wise Leader', in which a child refugee from the war in
Nagorny Karabakh assures the president that everyone has faith in him.
Pupils a year older get to read his sayings, such as, `To be a leader
and to educate, one needs the moral right,' the author says.
Malahet Murshudlu, chair of the Free Teachers' Union, disagreed, and
likened the constant flow of praise to the enforced adulation for
Lenin and Stalin in earlier times. `From an early age, children's
minds are being shaped within this ideology,' she said.
Rafiq Ismayilov, who has written many of the textbooks used to teach
Azerbaijani, acknowledged that quotes from Heydar Aliyev probably
improved one's chances of getting a work approved.
`No one openly ordered or recommended that I include texts about him,
but it's important to do so in order to get a textbook approved. I
sense that education ministry likes it and wants it, I believe my
books are really good for schools. Of course I want to get them
approved,' he said.
Source: Panorama.am
From: A. Papazian