Lukashenko comments on work of youth organizations in Belarus

The head of state said: "We will not destroy this large organization in any way, and not only because I have done a lot to revive it. Although, frankly, I am not entirely satisfied with its work, especially its central bodies."

At the same time, the president warned these organizations against pretend work.

For the youth organization to draw less criticism and to shed some unreasonable expectations, we need to clearly define the areas of its work, Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

"For example, student construction brigades is the strongest movement that we have historically inherited from the times of the Soviet Union. There are others like this too... Fro example, we designate seven areas of work. The society should know that the BRSM, our largest youth organization, deals with these seven areas and not involved in others. We talked about it for a long time already but so far did little. This needs to be done,' the head of state noted.

The president also stressed that he has his reservations about the work of the youth union in universities. At the same time, he said: "For the youth union to enjoy respect, we need to give it certain powers. In my student years, the youth committee in my university, like in all universities, was involved in such matters as the allocation of a place in dormitories, scholarships to students, keeping things in order in dormitories, not to mention some cultural and mass events. Why don't we draw on this experience.”

The head of state believes that this is a shortcoming in the work of the university rectors and the education minister.

The president demanded to clearly determine the areas of work of the youth organization and define powers "from top to bottom ." He also drew attention to the need for more effective student unions. "When students see that they solve issues they will treat these organizations differently," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

"There should be no showing off. There should be no inflated membership. No need to drag people there for the sake of numbers," the head of state is convinced.

"Indeed, there are a lot of problems. But we should not partition the the youth organization, tear it to pieces. There is a place for people of any profession. There were student organizations like Komsomol, organizations for rural, working youth. Why do not we structure our youth organization in this way," the Belarusian leader noted.

The president assured that the youth organizations will be supported in the country.