Minister Mikayil Cabbarov on education reforms

Privately owned schools provide higher quality education given the better resources they have, the minister said, speaking at a meeting of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC).

"If we look at education as a certain product, we’ll see that public schools do not have the resources privately owned schools have. This is natural and we cannot blame anyone for it,” the minister said.

Cabbarov said the ministry is drawing up plans to introduce narrow-specialty education at higher classes to improve the quality of education.

There are as many as 4,481 secondary schools in Azerbaijan at the moment, the minister said.

The ministry plans to streamline scholarship procedures at state-run universities, Cabbarov said.

Students who pass state university exams and receive scholarships will have to do well to continue receiving their monthly stipends. Those getting "non-satisfactory” marks might be deprived of their stipends.

Another reform the ministry plans to introduce in the education system is the merger of vocational schools with universities. Vocational schools will be subordinated to universities to help better make use of resources, the minister said.

Cabbarov, 39, is the youngest minister in the Azerbaijani government. He was appointed in 2013.

Cabbarov previously served as the head of the Old City State History and Archeology Reserve. He was a deputy economy minister between 2004 and 2009.