Transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon colleagues. Today, we have agreed to discuss the results of the past school year.

2011 was a special year because it marked the beginning of a large project to modernise regional education systems. The federal government has approved a large amount of money for this purpose: 120 billion roubles for 2011-2013. The project is aimed at revamping the school infrastructure, equipping classrooms with the necessary teaching aids, reinstating medical posts, improving school cafeterias, modernising gyms, restocking libraries and expanding access to the internet. These projects will continue the work that we began in 2006.

This year, the regions will receive 60 billion roubles. The first half has already been transferred and it is necessary to ensure that this money be spent as efficiently as possible. School buildings should be repaired and renovated over the summer, and the necessary equipment needs to be purchased – the latest models of course.

I also believe it makes sense to provide the second half of the planned financing – the other 30 billion roubles – to the regions only after they report on their results for the first half of 2012. The plan for this year is to renovate nearly 11,000 schools and overhaul 3,000 more.

Another plan is to raise teachers’ salaries to the average level in each region. We began working on this some time ago. Many regions have already reached this goal. We will hear from regional governments today; regional leaders will report on their progress.

The next important issue that needs to be addressed concerns the salaries of preschool and kindergarten teachers. These should also be raised to meet the average pay of education workers. I would like regional leaders to keep in mind that, according to the most recent distribution of responsibilities, compensation packages in general education are their responsibility, and they should not count on unlimited assistance from the federal government. This project, which is planned for three years, should lay the groundwork for further modernisation of education in Russia and set a benchmark for teachers’ salaries and working conditions at regional institutions.

We are certainly all interested in raising the prestige of teaching; this is our key goal. We must increase the incomes and the social status of our teachers. The successful development of each region ultimately depends on this.

First-graders began studying according to new educational standards as of September 1 of last year. This topic is being actively discussed and there are many debates on this subject. I have seen some of them on social networking sites and in the media. On the one hand, parents are happy that they are able to choose an educational program for their children and participate in school activities and government. They also like the fact that the learning process in elementary school has been embracing modern technologies. At the same time, many parents are concerned with the fact of increased student workload. Currently, we are faced with the need to adopt new standards in middle and high schools.      

Present at today’s meeting are representatives of the education system, teachers, school principals and heads of other educational institutions. I would like to invite you to share your views on the initial results of your work according to these new standards. 

It’s a busy season for schools now, with students taking their unified state examination. More than 850,000 students are taking this exam, which is a serious challenge for them. I can see how my son feels about this exam, for instance. It is certainly a major challenge for any young man or woman. However, there is still no agreement about the unified exam among experts. Naturally, politicians also take part in these debates and the positions expressed are very different. What’s obvious, however, is that the introduction of the USE has made university admissions more open and fair. I have said this on numerous occasions, and I believe it is absolutely true. School students who have successfully graduated from specific educational institutions in the most remote Russian territories have received an opportunity to continue their education at the best regional and federal higher educational institutions. Everyone acknowledges this, especially when you go to provincial areas. Their teachers and parents say that the situation in this sense has changed.

But like any organic, living system, the Unified State Exam needs to be upgraded. We must improve it in order to ensure effective work. Incidentally, Dmitry Livanov and I discussed possible improvements yesterday. I shared my thoughts. I don’t know, and I don’t claim to have the answers, because I am not a specialist, on how to restructure the Unified State Exam. But when students are only required to take a Unified State Exam in a foreign language in a written format, this is cause for some doubt. As a person who has been studying a foreign language for a long time, I know that oral practice is often much more important because learning to speak is much harder than learning to write without mistakes. Beginner foreign language students often don’t need this in every case. On the whole, this is a controversial issue, one which we discussed yesterday. Let’s begin our teleconference. Dmitry Livanov, Minister of Education and Science, will deliver a brief report.

Dmitry Livanov: Mr Medvedev, colleagues, I'll speak briefly about the four areas of the ministry’s work in the outgoing academic year. We consider these to be our main priorities.

To begin with, we have increased the salaries of teachers. Here are a few figures: in the first quarter of this year the average salaries of teachers have grown by 40% as compared with the same period last year – from 15,300 roubles to 21,100 roubles. We will continue increasing teachers’ salaries. In the fourth quarter of this year they should match or exceed the economic average in each region; the national average should be at least 23,700 roubles. Importantly, this increase has led to the growth of salaries of other educational workers – in pre-school centres and so on (Please show the slides, if possible).

It is also important that this project has encouraged discussion of the system of teachers’ remuneration, that is, how teachers should be paid. Today, there exist several different patterns, all of which are valid. In general, we recommend that the ratio between the basic pay and incentive pay should be 70% to 30%. This ratio makes it possible to guarantee teachers a sufficiently high basic pay, while at the same time rewarding them for excellent work and skills.

It is vital to ensure that teachers in the regions know what system is being used in their particular school. They should be able to discuss these patterns rather than accept them as directives from the higher-ups. I’d like to emphasise once again for the governors and heads of regional educational institutions that teachers’ salaries should not fall below the level that has been established in the relevant agreements between the Ministry of Education and Science and the regions.

Another major issue concerns the need to improve conditions at schools – that is, the school infrastructure. Indeed, a lot has been done but I won’t dwell on the previous year. I just want to say that the conditions in which our children study still leave much to be desired. The share of schools that observe all Sanitary Regulations and Norms is less than 60% of the national average. Under these circumstances, every region should make serious decisions. The administration of every region must know what their schools are like, whether they require repairs or upgrading. They must also have a clear-cut programme for resolving these problems. Needless to say, the federal centre will help the regions and will conduct permanent monitoring. This is a very urgent issue today.

Provision of information technology is another important area. In the last few years we have made spectacular progress – all schools have been switched to the internet and their access to it is being broadened; a content filtering system has been installed; and a free software school package has been developed. Finally, there are electronic educational and study materials on virtually all subjects of the school programme, which are free to access.

We really have made a big leap forward over the past few years. A lot has been accomplished: all schools have been connected to the Internet and work is underway on expanding Internet access. A content filtering system was set up; a free software package for schools was created; modern online education resources and free study aids are now available for all subjects on the school curriculum. This is important. It is equally important for students to make active use of these materials. Likewise, advanced teacher training is of crucial importance for ensuring wider use of modern digital technology in the classroom.

We began an experimental introduction of digital textbooks this academic year. We will analyse the outcome of this experiment in July-August to see how it worked for teachers and students. We want to make sure that these types of textbooks are convenient to use and can withstand the typical kind of impact children exert on them. Most importantly, we need to find out how much further we can expand the use of digital textbooks.

It is also significant that an increasing number of schools are using digital textbooks, including 100% of the schools in Tatarstan – they are the leaders in Russia in this regard. In the Moscow Region the figure is 17%. We must of course expand this practice.

Dmitry Medvedev: Is that the lowest number?

Dmitry Livanov: Yes it is.

Dmitry Medvedev: The Moscow Region should take note of what they are doing in Tatarstan.

Dmitry Livanov: Yes, it should. We need to expand the use of digital textbooks, because they provide important information for parents, especially about what their children are actually doing in school.

And finally, the very important topic of new educational standards. We will transfer all first year students to the new educational standards from the beginning of the new academic year. It is very important to make sure that teachers of first-year students receive the appropriate training for this. Around 430,000 teachers and heads of educational institutions are involved. The introduction of new standards in primary and secondary schools also needs to be accompanied by the relevant retraining of teachers and upgrading of their skills.

Allow me to say a few words about our priorities for the next few years. First, we provided support to leading regions and schools under the Education National Priority Project. These leaders have set certain standards. As a matter of fact, our academic programme for first-year students is now based on these standards. However, the most important issue now is to improve the average level of education. The support programme for the leaders has sharpened the divide between schools. I think we should now focus on the schools and regions that are falling behind, so that we can improve the average level of school education. This is extremely important.

Secondly, we need to really make an effort to address the issue of equipping schools with the necessary infrastructure. I have already mentioned this: every school should be provided with the minimum conditions required for studying, as laid out by the sanitary rules and regulations. We should require that all schools comply with these requirements within a reasonable timeframe, somewhere between two to three years – the task after all is quite a big one.

Thirdly, we need to significantly cut down on the amount of paperwork schools are required to fill out. I hear a lot about teachers and school officials being overloaded with paperwork. We are conducting monitoring and field studies to see what’s going on in this area. I think we have every reason to believe that we will be able to cut down the amount of paperwork by at least half in the new school year. I have a few samples of the type of reports in question here. I won’t waste your time on them, but some of them are completely ridiculous. We will get rid of them completely. I believe that schools will already notice the difference by next year. It goes without saying that teachers should be focusing on working with students and their parents, and not on paperwork.

To conclude, allow me to briefly comment on the ministry’s new style of working. We will operate on the principle of an open ministry. We will shortly be creating expert groups to discuss all the key issues involved in promoting education at all levels. We will organise open discussions of all constructive ideas. We will discuss these ideas, make new decisions and follow up on their implementation together with the expert community. I suggest that all heads of constituent entities, our colleagues from the regions and heads of regional educational bodies join us in this work. Thank you.

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you, Mr Livanov. Let’s listen to what our colleagues from the regions have to say. Please switch to the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Mr Kuznetsov (Lev Kuznetsov, governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory) please go ahead.

Lev Kuznetsov: Good afternoon, Mr Medvedev, esteemed colleagues. Let me begin by saying that 20,000 school leavers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory are currently sitting the Unified State Exam in more than 1,200 schools. The exam process is going as scheduled.

Summing up the results of our work in the Krasnoyarsk Territory education system in 2011-2012, I can say that we focused on five main areas defined by the national educational directive. These were: introducing new standards of education in primary schools; developing the infrastructure and logistics to uphold the new system, including the creation of distance learning programmes given the size of the Krasnoyarsk Territory; increasing salaries through the introduction of a new pay system; designing and constructing school buildings according to new standards; and promoting programmes for gifted children.

I will now go into more details for each of these areas. All first-year academic programmes were transferred over to the new standards over the course of this school year. The pilot schools where these standards were first tested were instrumental in achieving overall success, as they can be  used later on as advisory centres to help address issues arising during the introduction of these standards across all schools.

First and second years throughout the Krasnoyarsk Territory will adopt the new system from 1 September. It’s important to note that we are focussing both on teaching and building the logistics base as we implement this new system. We made sure that logistics and all related issues are handled by boards of trustees, teachers, school heads and trade union organisations. So we used about 50% of the allocated funds for implementing the basic logistics of the system, and the rest was distributed to schools depending on their particular educational arrangements.

Mr Medvedev, since so many of our schools are located in remote areas and have relatively small numbers of students, distance learning is becoming critically important for us. It will become even more important as we move towards adopting standards that are already in use at general secondary schools, because having a sufficient number of properly trained teachers for all subjects will then become critical. That is why the system of distance learning is now being actively implemented. We took as our starting point the practice of distance education for children with disabilities. I believe distance learning will be of great help to us in ensuring common standards and quality of education regardless of school location or pupil numbers.

The next area to focus on is salaries and the new pay system. We are honouring all the commitments that we assumed under our agreement with the ministry. The average teacher salary today is just over 23,000 roubles, compared to the 17,000 that we started with. The average salary in the Krasnoyarsk Territory overall currently stands at 26,500 roubles. Accordingly, we will bring teachers’ salaries in line with this average in the fourth quarter in accordance with your instructions. The appropriate funds have been budgeted for.

Another important point in this area is the fact that we’ve delegated decision-making on bonus payments over to teachers and their supervisory boards. Schools will be responsible for incentivising teachers, based on their existing priorities in education, development of skills in the area of maths and physics and participation in academic contests.

One of our key goals is not only to improve the quality of education, but to create a decent educational environment. This year, we have developed standard school projects and started building them across the Krasnoyarsk Territory. We focused particularly on rural schools, where we made a point of building larger sports halls, libraries and assembly halls in order to turn rural schools into social and cultural centres.  We believe that this approach is justified in spite of the fact that initially construction costs do go up. However, overall it helps us streamline budget spending on rural areas, while at the same time creating incentives for keeping schools open all week long, which provides teachers and other workers in the social sphere with more opportunities for earning some additional money.

The Gifted Children programme was a special area of focus for us. We began implementing it across the entire Krasnoyarsk Territory and established resource centres depending on geographical location. All gifted children are entered into a database and are given the opportunity to develop their particular abilities at these resource centres. The outstanding achievers go to the territorial resource centre, which has an established system of cooperation with higher and vocational educational institutions, which provides a social lift for these children and helps them realise their talents to the full. In so doing we are also trying to achieve the secondary goal of getting them involved at a later date in the economy or the social sphere of the Krasnoyarsk Territory or other Russian regions.

Mr Medvedev, we have opened special classes and are now completing the design of the school in accordance with your instruction to create a Gifted Children programme at the Siberian Federal University. We would like federal universities or the Ministry of Education, together with the regions, to co-finance the construction of such schools at universities in order to create a single educational centre for gifted children.

Mr President, there is one more proposal. The issue of sanitary rules and school repairs was raised here today. We suggest that the government approves these sanitary rules and fire safety regulations for a term of five years. In that case, we would be able, in conjunction with the relevant monitoring authorities, to approve the appropriate action plan once and for all so that we do not have to revisit it again. Unfortunately, in previous years, (I can’t say this was the case everywhere, but in many places), these requirements were constantly changing. This does not mean that they should be set in stone. Of course, they should take account of emergencies or newly discovered facts. However, this idea has merit if we want to spend budget funds efficiently and ensure the safety and quality of educational institutions. Thank you.

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you very much. I had a word with our colleagues regarding co-financing. It looks like there are no particular problems and obstacles here. But you should think about ways of organising this work. By this I mean your idea of making the work on the sanitary rules and regulations last longer. As I understand, these parameters last for five years, is that correct?

Lev Kuznetsov: Yes.

Dmitry Medvedev: And I also think that it would be better to base it on a medium-term perspective, because otherwise it is difficult to plan the work of any organisation, including schools.

I would like to touch on one last topic. You told us what and how things are being done. In general, the figures on key school equipment vary widely across regions. I just saw in my notes that 58% of schools currently have working hot and cold water supplies, compared to 53% in 2010. Only 77.5% schools are equipped with heated toilets which comply with the sanitary rules and regulations. In other words, one quarter of our schools don’t have decent toilets. That is a very disappointing figure.

I remember visiting a school in southern Russia on 1 September. They kept telling me with great enthusiasm how everything was fine at their school and what kind of money they were investing in it. And in fact there wasn’t anything wrong with it: it was an average secondary school in a relatively small village. Then I came out and saw happy parents waving hands at me and saying that all is well. And then a mother takes me by the hand and says: “You know, this school doesn’t have any toilets.” What does this tell us? This tells us that the primary focus is very often on perhaps very important issues to do with the quality of education. That’s good and it’s fair enough, but schools should still offer a decent environment to our children, especially given that they spend such a lot of time in school. So before you go ahead and buy expensive equipment – and it’s good when schools have such equipment – please make sure you have working toilets, hot and cold water, a working sewage system and showers in gyms, these are all basic amenities. I believe these things should not be overlooked. Of course, I am not talking exclusively about the Krasnoyarsk Territory. I believe it’s the same across Russia: there are schools in remote locations and there are schools with very few students. This is an issue that concerns everyone.

Let’s continue. Please switch to the Governor of the Vladimir Region Nikolai Vinogradov.

Nikolai Vinogradov: Good afternoon, Mr Medvedev and teleconference participants. Education plays a very important role in the modernisation of the economy and the social sphere. It has special social significance and requires major investment. This is the guiding principle behind how we work.

The region’s educational system consists of 399 day and 11 night general schools and 57 primary and secondary vocational training schools, as well as 24 higher schools and their branches. The region also has 559 preschools for more than 330,000 children.

There are about 28,000 teachers in the region. The reform of the region’s educational system gathered momentum following the December 2005 Government Resolution on the Targeted Federal Programme for Education Development for 2006-2010. The administrative and financial aspects of the reform were stimulated by the Government Resolution of February 2011. We also drafted and adopted regional programmes in this area. Since 2006, 58.7 billion roubles have been allocated from the budget for educational programmes in the region, including 12.9 billion roubles in 2011, an increase of 11.5%. The contribution of the consolidated regional budget to educational programmes has grown from 19.9% to 28.2%, which is serious money.

I’d like to say that the priority areas of education development were outlined and fleshed out in the reporting period. On September 1, 2008, the region adopted the standardised per capita financing system of teachers’ pay, becoming one of the first regions in Russia to do so. We also implemented the bulk of measures to restructure our system of educational establishments, granted more financial autonomy to them, actively promoted the introduction of computers and Internet technologies at schools, and created a system of support for the best educational establishments, school teachers and talented children and young people. This allowed us to reduce the share of inefficient spending (we have been working to comply with the report on the main results and guidelines for the operation of executive authorities in the sphere of general education) from 20.9% in 2008 to 11.4%. This is less than the average in Russia. In general, we have been working quite effectively in this area.

The educational guidelines for this year are stipulated in the Government Resolution on the procedure for the provision of federal budget subsidies to federal entities in 2011-2013. How far have we progressed in implementing these changes? In 2011, teachers’ salaries grew 30%, exceeding the average pay in the economy by 17% compared to the first quarter of 2011. The salaries of the preschool staff were raised 20%, and those of the medical staff in the system of education, 50%.

To resolve the issue of salary differentiation in this area, we plan to raise salaries by 20% in 2012; additional allocations have been stipulated for this purpose in the regional budget. Starting September 1, 2011, all first-graders have been studying in accordance with the new-generation federal state educational standards. Transition to these standards has also stimulated the improvement of the schools’ infrastructure. I’d like to say that schools remain a major problem in rural areas, but we have been working to resolve this. In particular, we have opened a school for 264 pupils in the Yuryev-Polskoy District, renovated a school for 450 pupils in Vladimir and are completing the construction of a school for 825 pupils in the city of Lakinsk. The construction of a school in Kolchugino is underway and major repairs were completed at eight schools last year. Sixty percent of schools, which two-thirds of [regional] students attend, have been repaired. Over 400 million roubles were allocated for these purposes.

We have set up a depot of 185 school buses for rural pupils, including 26 which we bought last year. This is enough for 98% of pupils. We still need some 35 new buses, but we intend to resolve this issue this year.

Educational institutions have improved their material resources over the past academic year: new equipment has been purchased for school labs and industrial workshops, as well as gyms and cafeterias. Overall, we acquired more than 16,000 pieces of equipment, increasing the availability of new equipment to students to 80%. A lot of attention was given to computer labs: 2,141 computers were purchased last year. The number of students provided with access to broadband internet reached 35%. The availability of computers has enabled schools to establish 28 distant education centres for children and create 51 online learning resources to teach various subjects to 2,500 schoolchildren. Overall, as many as 90% of students have been provided with a learning environment that meets modern standards.

The availability of textbooks also plays an important role in organising the teaching and learning process. Last year, we funded the purchase of 188,000 textbooks, which were provided to 77% of first-graders.

A new system of professional appraisal for teachers has been introduced. At this stage, 10% of teachers confirmed that they are qualified for their job and were awarded the first higher qualification category under this new system. We will continue these appraisals.

At the same time, along with the recent achievements in the development of education, we are also seeing a number of lingering problems. Most of the region’s schools were built in the 1970s-1980s and were accepted for operation in accordance with the requirements that went into effect last year. However, it often happens that new requirements issued by oversight agencies (sanitary regulations and other state standards) do not take into account the real possibilities of old buildings that use outdated designs. This leads to problems and we often find ourselves stitching a jacket to a button. It seems to me that it would be a good solution for the time being to apply the new standards only to relatively new buildings. Anyway, some solution needs to be found. As it is, we make huge investments to reform or renovate institutions where there is a high degree of wear.

High quality medical services at educational institutions are also a problem. This happens because it is impossible to establish a proper medical post in a building with an obsolete design – it simply does not fit there. This problem should be addressed as well.

And one more question, Mr Medvedev. A considerable part of ineffective spending in general education that I’ve mentioned is due to the failure to observe the targeted ratio of the number of teachers to other personnel. This ratio should be 60% to 40%. It is difficult to abide by it because any attempts to achieve it lead to the withdrawal from schools of special teachers – those who deal with additional education, psychology and speech therapy, to name a few. Also, I think we should change the students-teacher ratio to make education more effective. Now it is 15 students per teacher but practice shows that we should make it 12 to one. This is a problem not only for the Vladimir Region. I know it was raised last year.

A large number of premises released during reorganisation also pose a serious problem. We have to pay a lot for their protection, upkeep and so on. Maybe it makes sense to consider their transfer to the federal level and use for federal purposes?

Dmitry Medvedev: What institutions are you talking about?

Nikolai Vinogradov: Some premises are being released during restructuring. Amalgamation is taking place because of demographic changes and a more effective educational process.

Dmitry Medvedev: I don’t understand what you are talking about. Are you referring to your schools? Or to what?

Nikolai Vinogradov: These are mostly vocational schools today.

Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Vinogradov, are these your institutions or federal ones?

Nikolai Vinogradov: The federal centre has transferred to us 12 secondary vocational schools. Now we have 57 vocational schools, including the primary ones. Some of them are no longer used because of streamlining in the educational process…

Dmitry Medvedev: I’ve heard you, Mr Vinogradov. If these schools are yours now, and in general our policy is to have secondary vocational education and relevant schools at the regional level for the most part, please dispose of them as you see fit. You can rent or sell them if you don’t need them for the time being and you’ve decided to shut them down anyway.

Nikolai Vinogradov: Mr Medvedev, we are trying to do this but they are not always in demand. I think it makes sense to create a database of idle premises at the federal level and use them for federal purposes. This is what I have in mind.

Dmitry Medvedev: This sounds rather strange. What’s the point of gathering them at the federal level without knowing what to do with them? I think it is a task for the regions to establish what premises are no longer used for academic purposes. Why don’t you rent it for money, after all? What’s the point of switching them back to the federal level?

Al right, then. I have the following question…

Nikolai Vinogradov: We are working on that. I’m talking about the database, Mr Medvedev.

Dmitry Medvedev: One more question – about the 60%-40% ratio. Do you consider it too rigid?

Nikolai Vinogradov: Yes, I do.

Dmitry Medvedev: Do you think it should be more flexible?

Nikolai Vinogradov: Absolutely.  We have to part with too many teachers because we obviously lack enough service personnel to comply with this ratio.

Dmitry Medvedev: Okay, I’ll tell our colleagues. I’d like the ministry to take note of this point. If the ratio is too rigid, let’s reconsider it. Let’s also review the criteria for small schools. Were you referring to them?

Nikolai Vinogradov: Yes, the existing standard for the countryside is one teacher per 15 pupils. But we cannot achieve this in practice. We have 12 or 12.5 at most. By the way, calculations also confirm this ratio.

Dmitry Medvedev: This depends on the region but, of course, all criteria must be realistic. I’d like the Ministry of Education to pay attention to this point as well. All right, thank you, Mr Vinogradov.

Okay, let’s listen now to our teachers and heads of education agencies. A number of them are attending our meeting. Let’s connect to Moscow. Mr Mokrinsky, director of Lyceum 1535, please take the floor.

Mikhail Mokrinsky: Good afternoon, Mr Medvedev, ladies and gentlemen.

Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon.

Mikhail Mokrinsky: The academic year at schools is practically over. This year, very serious changes have taken place in Moscow education in many major areas. One of the main points is that, on the one hand, the sequence and pace of these changes have been set, whereas, on the other, different educational institutions are planning and making them in a different way. Everything is taken into account: start-up opportunities and the need to openly exchange detailed information and conduct serious discussions. Eventually, all parties of the educational process must understand the gist of these changes.

The first area is the comprehensive provision of information technology at a new level. The lyceum I work at has already started preparing for the new academic year. We have recently received a package of modern equipment: notebooks primarily for teachers and interactive boards for students. We are planning what educational technology to use based on the modern equipment we have.

During the outgoing academic year, our lyceum fully switched to electronic class registers. This allowed us not only to use new quality feedback, which was immediately welcomed both by parents and students, but also to start developing and testing internet support for the educational process. 

Dmitry Medvedev: Are students really happy about this? Please, be straight.

Mikhail Mokrinsky: They are. They want to know where they stand and this is always good for them.

Dmitry Medvedev: Well, on the other hand, this system cannot be broken like a standard register that can be lost, thrown away or faked. One has to have special talent to make changes in an electronic register. This is very convenient, as I know from my own practice. But I was a bit surprised when you said students are happy about this feedback.

Mikhail Mokrinsky: This is true. I think they are happier about their own feedback than that of their parents. This is true.

I think they enjoy that feedback even more than from parents, that’s true. However a new option has emerged, the option of developing and testing a system of internet support for the educational process. Project groups within the lyceums comprising various methodological associations on teaching the Russian language, mathematics, basics safety, natural science, and so on have developed prototypes of distance learning courses, and this year about 400 pupils of the lyceum participated in the testing of these courses. New resource options are becoming one of the major ways to differentiate and individualise teaching and learning. New strategies are emerging, strategies for supporting various children, those having difficulties in learning and those with a firm interest in learning and academic abilities. 

The second area is the transition of Moscow education to a new system of wages. Here the lyceum teachers have taken a timeout until the beginning of the next year and have been developing their own model of efficient quality management and simultaneously have been monitoring the experience in other schools. Our lyceum happened to be in a favourable situation compared to the majority of our colleagues, and compared with some of them our standard funding for one pupil was almost twofold in real terms.

However we understand and without a doubt support the steps taken this year in order to bring the quality of education in Moscow up to the highest level. First, we see the rise in quality of education in schools which were weak quite recently. We are glad not only for these schools but to see civilised competition, which always contributes to development. And following the results of 2010-2011, we were awarded with the mayor’s grant for outstanding results in education. It was based on an unbiased assessment of indicators – that is, the results of the Unified State Exam, the results of competitions, and the city rating in which we were a leader. We were awarded a grant of 15 million roubles.

We saw this as approval of the educational policy of our teachers in recent years. And this year, 17 pupils of the lyceum won prized in the Russian stage of the international olympiads. Last year there were 20 winners, but we are especially glad that since this year there are winners and prize winners on a wide range of subjects. There are three winners in the English language, social science, and history, two winners in economics and French, Russian, German and law. And in this sense the growing diversity of educational areas in which our graduates are  highly successesful are especially important because these are probably the first explicit results of the policy of developing infrastructure and territorial educational systems in Moscow.

For our lyceum this means primarily the prospects of participation in the development and adjustment of the model of specialised and multi-specialised education. From our two basic areas – historic-philological and socioeconomic – we extended our range to six areas including medicine and psychology. The number of students grew from 700 to 1,050; the lyceum acquired a second building.  

But most importantly, we have started the comprehensive renovation of the management of the new resource base, the whole system of quality management in the lyceum. And here we get support in the options extended to us, to our lyceum and to the whole Moscow education system by the Moscow strategic programme Municipal Education 2012-2016. Thank you.

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you very much, Mr Mokrinsky. And what about wages? Is it all right? Since Moscow happens to be a special place, a special constituent territory of the Russian Federation, nevertheless, as compared with the average wages in Moscow?  

Mikhail Mokrinsky: Well, in practical terms, with these new salaries teachers prefer to keep their jobs and youths seek the jobs of teachers. I think, next year when we embrace a new system of payment, the salaries will grow more. This year the average teacher’s salary exceeded 50,000 roubles; it grew from 41,000 roubles to 53,000 roubles, an average salary in institutions.

Olga Golodets: Moscow exceeded the average salary.

Dmitry Medvedev: Yes, I have looked and, according to that data, Moscow has exceeded the average salary. This is a big difference, of course.  

Olga Golodets: 62 regions have caught up with us.

Dmitry Medvedev: Good, thank you. Colleagues, if you wish to say something, go ahead please. We have regional heads, if you wish to add anything, raise your hand, I’ll respond. The regional heads and headmasters, does anyone wish to speak? 

Olga Golodets: Here’s the Penza Region.

Dmitry Medvedev: Go ahead, please.

This is natural, because teachers do not often have the possibility to say everything they think to ministers and other superiors. So you are a teacher of history and social science, aren’t you? Mr Bunin, right? Go ahead, please.

Alexei Bunin (Alexei Bunin, teacher of history and social science, Malyshkin School No. 2, Mokshan industrial community, Penza Region): Yes, Good afternoon, Mr Medvedev!

Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon!

Alexei Bunin: I don’t think I fit in this format, because I have heard the reports of various bosses, yet on the other side, it would be easier for me…

Dmitry Medvedev: It’s always like that. Nobody can do otherwise in this country.

Alexei Bunin: Nobody expects me to cite figures, however I can say what I see around me and what I feel myself because I live in a family of teachers: my day is spent at work, in the evening I think and talk about work, so school for me is 24 hours a day. And I can translate all changes (the figures were named) happening throughout this country into my feelings if you are interested.

Dmitry Medvedev: We are interested. Tell us, does it match your feelings or not?

Alexei Bunin: Let’s start with the salary. My salary has grown 2.5 times from 8,000 roubles. It had not been too small for an industrial community; but currently I’m speaking not about the salary that has increased but about the assessment of my work; that is, I realise that my work…

Dmitry Medvedev: What is your current salary?

Alexei Bunin: 20,000 roubles. That is, my work has earned a new assessment. In addition, I have won a presidential grant of 200,000 roubles, which has been a great support for my family. In our region many teachers have been using this option, the region offers such grants as the Pedagogical Olympus and the Pedagogical Initiative. The most enterprising teachers can win the Best Teacher - Entrepreneur grant, but probably the incentivising fund that we share according to a jointly adopted statute must encourage us to adopt a new style of work. That is, I see the problem, nobody has spoken about it but it is around us. The problem is that, as Seneca said, “We learn not from school, but from life.” That is, we train pupils so that they go on to study at university while our companies can’t find workers with any vocational skills. How should we solve this problem? I for one find this issue very worrying because they are opening… Investors are ready to invest in our village, but they can’t find skilled workers even at a decent wage. People would rather go to Moscow and work as a security guard. Our region, if I may share our experience… we have a project called training through entrepreneurship. We do more than just take our children on an excursion to companies, we are involving them in solving the problems these companies face. For example, a dairy plant has opened in our region (they decided to invest in Mokshan, after all), but many problems cropped up. Our students went there and helped them develop advertising, a programme for marketing their goods and helped them create a website. They became participants in this business. Perhaps some of these people will return to Mokshan rather than go to Moscow in search of the good life, and that would be an important turn.

I think I should also talk about working conditions because although a lot has been said about how much money is invested, let’s look at what I have as a history teacher at a lesson. I have a netbook in my hands. In 2010 every teacher received a netbook at the governor’s initiative. This year the school got five interactive boards and a classroom in every discipline now has such a board. This year we got high-speed internet, 6 megabites, which is a lot for our rural area.

Dmitry Medvedev: That’s a lot for the country because I have looked at the report the minister gave me, give me the report about the internet. Only 17% of our schools have access to the internet with a speed of more than 2 megabites per second.

Alexei Bunin: Yes, so I have opportunities. Our school has a local network and Wi-Fi. This year we received a mobile computer class in addition to the two computer classes that we had already. But the problem is that the teachers are not up on this new technology. This year, though I am a good internet user, I took two upgrade courses, of considerable duration, in distance learning programmes and in work with electronic education resources. Not only the young ones, but all teachers are trying to keep pace with change. They gave us laptops, so we have to become immersed in it, that is, to upgrade our qualifications.

And I would like to share a personal observation. I live in a village where there is a new fitness and health centre with an artificial football pitch, a tennis court and, most importantly, a swimming pool. I have two kids, nine and twelve. In a village of only 12,000 people I have a chance not only to use a swimming pool, but my kids are competing with other city kids who are considered to be Olympic hopefuls, that is, they can take sport seriously. By the way, I’m keen on swimming myself and I enjoy teaching my children to swim, in other words, our teachers are versatile. For example, in addition to swimming I conduct an amateur photography class, and I’m chairman of the Fathers’ Council. Basically, my performance is assessed not only as that of someone who teaches classes, but also someone who works with children all the time, I work with children during the day and also in the evenings.

And yet I would like to go back to the problem I mentioned in the beginning and say that people at the highest level should think hard because we will soon be looking for guest workers to fill high-tech jobs while our own young people will be looking for jobs as office clerks or security guards. I know, I have asked around and I know what they call our workers, they call them “slaves,” that is, they call factory workers “slaves.” This is alarming and I think the problem should be addressed.

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you very much for your sincere account of the state of affairs in your town. It is good that your school has modern equipment, that you have conditions for improvement and most importantly, that you do not fall behind your children because it’s a disaster for a teacher when the children know more than they do. And there used to be such a gap. When I started to introduce the internet at schools (that was in 2006) many teachers didn’t even realise what it was and shied away from it. They said it was an evil, that it created nothing but problems, that classical education should be based only on traditional technology. But life is life, all the same everyone had to learn and those who did not want to learn had to go. That’s human history: nothing can stop progress.

The problem you have mentioned cannot be solved by decree. You understand that quality jobs should be created by employers, only then will working at a factory be prestigious. The question now is not only about money and, strange though it may seem, not largely about money because many companies pay more than other jobs. But people don’t want these jobs because of the moral assessment and the prestige of the labourer’s trade. That is what we are actually working on. Unfortunately, it is a subject that calls for the concerted effort of all of society. Another problem is attracting people to work in industry, attracting engineers and technicians because unfortunately engineers and technicians have been “washed out” of the industry. I’m not just referring to machine tool operators, but also to those who manage production from the technological point of view. So this is a challenge for all of us and above all for those who are engaged in production. It’s a challenge not only for government organisations, but also for employers.

Well colleagues, who is still on queue, if you have something to add, I’ll give you a minute, only be brief. Rostov-on-Don.

Vasily Golubev (governor of Rostov region): Good afternoon, Mr Medvedev.

Dmitry Medvedev: Only don’t make it a full-length report, as your colleague from the Mokshan workers’ settlement has rightly said, pinpoint the issues, OK?

Vasily Golubev: I will not be making a report. I believe that it would be great if we could see to it that the modernisation programme does not end in 2012 because there are some problems – and you have mentioned them – that need to be pursued further. Some are more difficult than others, but the line should only be drawn when we have put all educational establishments, including small rural schools, in order.

One problem that we have been able to solve (just for your information, which I think is worth mentioning) is transporting children to school. For example, two years ago almost all of our 400 buses in the Rostov Region were obsolete and battered, more than 8 years old. We adopted a new programme and we completed it and today there is not a single bus in operation that is not roadworthy, not a single bus is older than six years. We think that’s very important – the road to school, safety and comfort. The parents flagged this problem for us because it worried them a great deal.

Another issue into which we looked, and you have mentioned it, is bringing the salaries of teachers at pre-school daycare centres and additional education teachers to the average level of the regional economy. As a first step we in our region decided to raise the salaries of these teachers by 30% as of September 1. I am convinced that this will be a good incentive for teachers, and of course, we should keep up (we are keeping up) with the average wage in the region. This has been our policy since the first quarter of 2011 and we are fulfilling it.

There are some minor problems that are regional in character, and you mentioned them today: for example, civilised toilets. We agreed that in 2012-2013 we will not put up with this in schools anymore. Such schools are mainly located in rural areas, and people are absolutely right when they say that against the background of new modern equipment supplies, these seemingly minor problems are very annoying.

On the whole, though, the Rostov Region is implementing the modernisation programme and we believe it will be completed on schedule. This is among our regional priorities because we are fully aware that the future development of the region as a whole hinges on it. Thank you.

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you. First, about the modernisation programme. It will continue in 2013. We assume that it will proceed on schedule at the current rate.

As regards follow-up actions, of course, we will pay more attention to the modernisation of pre-school education and, of course, we will continue the reform of school education. Only now we have one set of priorities, and later it will be a bit different, but the years 2012 and 2013 are covered by the programme and you should get the maximum advantage out of it. And as I said in the beginning, the money that comes your way… New allocations will be made in the future and you will have to report on how the money is spent. So I would like to once again bring this to the attention of our regional leaders (those who are on the line and all the other governors) that raising teacher salaries in education based on our earlier decisions must be treated as an absolute priority, and the issues must be addressed as we have agreed.

And of course starting in 2013 we should earmark money to maintain the average salary of general education teachers at least at the level of the average monthly wage in the region. It is really a very important issue and funding should be planned in advance. And I am not speaking about such obvious things, the aims that always face the regional authorities – the preparation of educational establishments for the new school year, but we will discuss it in time for the August pedagogical meetings and other events. For the time being, I would like to draw your attention to the three positions. The Ministry of Education and Science should also monitor how subsidies are transferred to finance the modernisation of regional education systems: the first funding should be dispatched no later than July 12, 2012, I’ll sign an instruction to that effect today, and we will transfer the second part of the funding dependant on the performance of the regions.

Colleagues, I would like all of you to keep this under constant review because the amounts are considerable and, let’s face it, in a difficult financial situation, we struggle to find the money. It should be spent wisely with due account of the priorities I have outlined. Everything should be well-balanced: work and study conditions at schools, education opportunities, teaching aids, new equipment for schools, etc. You are all competent people and you know what I have in mind. I would hate to see myself and other leaders be taken to task and be told that money has been spent on costly equipment, but that you still feel ashamed to enter a school building. I want all those present to pay attention to this.

Thank you very much, I will sign the relevant instructions, and we’ll be in touch. Goodbye.