Misir Mardanov, the Azerbaijani Education Minister, told a news conference on 14 September 2006 that the education establishments of Azerbaijan are partially ready for a new school year.
The Minister noted that this year the secondary schools of the Country will admit 1.5 million pupils, including 127,000 First Form pupils, as well as over 100,000 students who continue education at the universities and colleges. The Education Ministry published 5 million textbooks in 108 subjects, over 70,000 books were sent to Azerbaijani schools in Georgia.
Mardanov stressed that this year under the construction programs, as well as Heydar Aliyev Foundation and other sources, the construction of 288 schools for 102,089 children was set up. 142 of them are built at the expense of private funds, 92 from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and 5 from the Saudi Development Foundation. In general, in the new school year 145 schools and additional units will be open for children.
Under the State Program on Provision of Secondary Schools with Information Technologies in 2006, a total of 841 schools will be supplied with computers and software.