Happy holiday, dear compatriots!

September 15 is a particularly joyful day for all of us, including me! Because I send my grandchildren off to school, and I must honestly admit that I feel like I’m going to class again, I’m in a hurry to meet my teachers and classmates… I’m both happy and worried, but in all cases, I believe that everything will be great for my grandchildren. I think all grandparents, just like parents, experience joyous excitement when the new school year begins.

Yes, the 2023 school year is significant for our country because we witnessed the opening of new schools in Fuzuli and Lachin. 15 teachers will teach 160 children for the first time in the school opened in Fuzuli this year. In Lachin, the first bell rang in the restored school after 32 years.

Of course, we are all proud of this, proud of our country and its achievements. This shows that, despite the difficulties, we are able to restore our native land and create security for the future of our children and grandchildren.

Let’s remember how the village of Agali, destroyed by Armenian vandals, was completely restored as soon as possible after the great Victory won in 2020 by the order of the President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev… Just one year after the end of the war, classes began in the newly built school in the village, and the returning conditions were created for the residents to live normally. Before that, back in 2016, Lalatape strategic height and other areas were freed from occupation, and the teaching process was resumed in Chochug Marjanli village of Jabrayil district.

It is gratifying that the first stage of the Great Return of our compatriots to their historic lands, their homelands, and their rebuilt homes, which were freed from the occupation, has begun. The construction boom in the Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur economic regions of Azerbaijan suggests that we will soon be talking about thousands of schools and hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in the towns and villages being rebuilt in these areas.

As it is known, the number of schools built in our country under the Heydar Aliyev Foundation alone has reached 500. This is a great achievement, a manifestation of the care given to the education of the young generation in our country!

The current Knowledge Day is not only the beginning of the new academic year, but also the Day of Revival of our Karabakh, our history, and our pride.

May this year bring new opportunities, knowledge, and hope to all of us, the citizens of Azerbaijan. Let every child and every grandchild who goes to school know that he is stepping towards his future, and we adults will be proud of them.

Happy holiday, dear compatriots!

Azer Askerov