Spirituality and patriotism. What do they tell children in the new elective at school?

Since the new academic year, an elective course in spirituality and patriotism has been introduced in grades 5-6. Our correspondent visited secondary school No. 70 in MINSK, where such classes have been held for a long time, and found out what they say and how it helps children cope with problems.

- The spiritual and moral problems of students in our school were especially acute 13 years ago, - says the DIRECTOR of school No. 70 Evgenia Rudova. - The situation was close to catastrophic: out of 300 schoolchildren, 26 had problems with study and discipline. Some parents abused ALCOHOL, others did not find moral support, living in single-parent families.

- No wonder they say: the ways of the Lord are inscrutable, - continues Evgenia Veniaminovna. - Once our graduate Dmitry, who recently returned from the army, came to visit us. He came not alone, but with a friend - the priest Father Pavel Serdyuk.

The teachers admitted that they were unable to cope with the current situation. Father Pavel volunteered to talk to the children, and already the first conversation with problem students bore fruit. The priest managed to find a path to the most desperate hearts. After his second visit, the management of the institution came to the conclusion that schoolchildren needed spiritual conversations.

One day two boys got into a fight. And it happened on the day of the next visit of Father Pavel, who went to class and in a conversation with the bullies said the necessary phrase: “The freedom of your fist ends where the freedom of the face of another person begins! You can’t bring conflicts to a fight. They are resolved with the help of words! " The response in the hearts of the fighters - the Orthodox Petya and the Muslim Elnur - turned out to be phenomenal: they became friends.

Nine years ago, the 70th school became the site of the project "Implementation of a model for the formation of spiritual and moral qualities of students in institutions of general secondary education." Since 2015, for students in grades 1-4, classes have been held in the format of the elective "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture", approved by the Ministry of Education.

As teachers and parents note, over the past time the children have grown a lot - both spiritually and morally. They became more educated, capable of compassion. Of course, anything happens, but, most importantly, they understand that solving problems with the help of force is not the best option.

- Classes form children's responsibility, a positive attitude towards life, the desire for self-development and moral improvement, - Olga Zhukovskaya, a teacher-psychologist, is sure.

- At the elective course, we also study the traditions and values ​​of the Belarusian people. I will definitely give children examples from history, Russian and Belarusian literature, music, painting, - says Galina Shimko, social pedagogue, history teacher and graduate of the regency department of the Minsk Theological Seminary (Zhirovichi).

The elective is attended by children of different nationalities and religions. Teachers are sure that spiritual and moral laws unite all confessions. Students are given an example of their great-grandfathers, who defended their homeland shoulder to shoulder during the war years. Then no one was divided into Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox. Adults teach children to find common interests, and there are many of them, including one school, one city, one country, one Earth!

The experience of spiritual and moral education of teachers of secondary school No. 70 came in handy when creating a manual for an elective course on the basics of spiritual and moral culture and patriotism: they were invited to the team of authors.

The potential of the elective was assessed by the Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Information Department of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Alexander Shimbalev, one of the authors of the manual "Spirituality and Patriotism", published to help schoolchildren and teachers:

- The acquired knowledge will give children the opportunity to make an informed choice, including in the most difficult situations, and be guided not by their own benefit, selfishness. They will teach them to correlate their actions with the requirements of eternal values, enrich them with the spiritual experience of mankind and the church. They will make them think, reflect on the soul, behavior, relationships with friends, parents and society, that is, they will teach young people wisdom, and will help solve many issues of everyday life in the future.

During the preparation of the elective course, the Orthodox Church invited experts representing a variety of denominations to work together: Catholics, Muslims, and Jews.

What do pupils of 5 "B" class remember about the first spiritual conversations

Yana Naydenok:

- Recently, in the classroom, we talked about the feast of the Nativity and the Entrance of the Virgin Mary into the Temple. The teacher told how they appeared, explained their meaning. We also learned that the Mother of God is the Patroness of our land: She is also on the coat of arms of the city.

Milana Shcherbinina:

Now I know that the Bible is the most popular book. It was written by 40 authors in three languages ​​at once in three parts of the world. The Bible teaches us goodness and truth.

Ilya Naumchik:

– I learned in class that Metropolitan Filaret was also a Hero of Belarus. He was not born in our country, but served - her! And thanks to Metropolitan Filaret, the cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk was restored.

Tamara MARKINA, photo by the author,

newspaper.