President Vladimir Putin’s Address to the session of the State Council on the Development of Education in the Russian Federation

Good afternoon, esteemed colleagues!

Today we are discussing the questions related to the development of national education.

We know well that the level of education is a point of departure for economic, scientific and technical progress. Low education standards directly affect the competitiveness of a state, and its national prospects.

Over the past few years we have been consistently and resolutely developing national education. Substantial resources have been spent to ensure its upsurge. In the past five years the federal budget allocations for education have increased by almost five times, and of the consolidated budget, by three times. Allocations have increased most markedly in regional and municipal budgets.

But despite this education has not yet been fully modernized. In order to encourage reform and achieve meaningful changes, we have started to implement a national project on education. Additional funds have been sent to the regions to support teachers and gifted young people, buy new equipment and introduce information technologies.

I would like to thank you, esteemed colleagues from the regions, for your active involvement in implementing the project, and, of course, for your own, regional initiatives and funds.

I would like to go over priorities in this sphere once again.

To begin with, education should be accessible to all our citizens, and its quality should conform to the best domestic and international standards. This is the absolute basics.

We also need fundamentally new standards for assessing the quality of education, which would rely on criteria set by society, the economy, employers, and the labor market.

Secondly, new management technologies and financial instruments should at last appear in education.

The regions and the educational community itself are quite capable of introducing today the legally approved per capita financing. The money should be primarily spent on the education of the individual: a school or college student, because it is the final result that counts in education, not a dull report on the performance of an institution.

The government should earmark the required funds to help the government bodies of the constituent members of the Federation draft the proposed system of financing and introduce it in schools. It is designed to make budget spending more effective, improve the quality of education, protection of children’s health and educational work.

I know that such work has already started in some regions, and is progressing well; many others are ready to start it, and are looking forward to it.  I would like to ask the Government to support this project and allocate the necessary funds before the end of the year.

Thirdly, the educational system should be responsible for the outcome of the educational effort, for the moral upbringing of the individual. It goes without saying that the position of parents and society is of paramount importance in this respect. But the teachers who spend so much time with the students and work closely with them should be directly interested in a successful outcome of this meaningful work.

The national project of education aims at encouraging the teachers to become closely involved in the moral upbringing of their students. A well-paid teacher will be able to devote more time and effort to this work, rather than merely rush to get more teaching hours.  

Let me repeat, we need to promote the transition of education to the modern principles of work. The way we teach today, and what we teach will largely affect our life tomorrow.

Modern education requires modern teachers. Qualified teachers will help us substantially upgrade the performance of our universities and schools.

Well-trained professionals, particularly young people, should join the field of education. They should bring along new and advanced methods, approaches, and knowledge acquired at university. In this context I would consider justified special support for innovation programs for the development of a number of colleges and universities.

We should have educational centers, which would serve as models for improving national universities and promoting scholarship. I hope that considerable funds earmarked under the project for innovation at universities, will play their role. I think and I hope that the Ministry of Education and Science will do its best to choose those universities, which are really engaged in innovation, and deserve government support.

I would like to say a few words about basic and general vocational training. Lyceums and vocational schools have virtually become an intermediate link before the university. Sometimes, the very purpose of education at this stage is lost. Meanwhile, the main goal of vocational schools should be the training of qualified workers, who are so badly needed in our industry, the agricultural and industrial sector, and the sphere of services.

Today we should analyze the content and direction of our vocational training, and adapt them to the requirements of domestic business and specific segments of the labor market. We should also consider manpower requirements of different territories. Here the Federation should work together with the regions. This is yet another sphere of cooperation.

We should also continue the transfer of the responsibility for basic and general vocational institutions to the regions. Practical results have been achieved where this has already been done.

Esteemed colleagues,

This country is becoming increasingly involved in the international education processes. But integration of the educational markets is impossible without access to the global systems and sources of information, without compatibility of educational standards.

As the country holding the G8 Presidency, Russia has suggested discussing the structural issues of education at the summit. In the final count good education contributes to the world economy, while its integration facilitates the rapprochement of national cultures, promotes the understanding of nations and states, and consolidates international stability.

Finally, Russian education stands to gain by building up the export of its educational services, because the training of personnel for other countries paves the way to new markets for us, while exchange of experience promotes a joint search for new technologies and investment. This is why we should open foreign branches of Russian educational institutions, and admit more foreign students and teachers to Russian universities. We should also remove the existing limitations on the admission to our universities of applicants from other CIS countries. I would like the Government to pay special attention to this question. They are our closest partners. Besides, they have similar educational traditions.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize once again: Having serious competitive advantages in education, Russia should be able to use them to its benefit. We should make a streamlined effort at all levels of power, and in close partnership with our society.

Thank you for your attention.    

print page