"Education opportunities at Russian schools have increased considerably as of late with new computer classes and the installation of up-to-date equipment. In fact all schools, even rural schools, have been computerised and given access to the Internet."
"I would like to draw special attention to the condition of school buses. I hold that both regional and local authorities need to monitor more closely the technical condition of vehicles and the qualifications and health of drivers, even more so since there are positive examples of such work in several regions which have led to a reduction in road accidents involving students."
"Only in the past year financing of general education increased by 120 billion roubles. The total funds allocated for the purpose were 738 billion roubles. The Ministry of Regional Development conducted a survey of how efficiently these funds were being used. The picture is far from ideal. According to analysis' estimates, the share of inefficient spending is around 19%. In terms of the total amount, this is 140 billion roubles. To give you an example, with this amount of money the salaries of teachers and educational administrators could be raised immediately by 25%. Or 300 new schools could be built with this money."
"The second decision concerns the ongoing experiment when the state supports the system of educational loans for students of higher educational establishments. Students showing good progress can now enjoy a number of privileges. One is the deferment of payments on the principal sum of the loan for the entire period of tuition at college or university. The state also plans to subsidise the interest rate on educational loans at three quarters of the Central Bank's refinancing rate."
"We should pay particular attention to the overall safety of students. This includes anti-terrorist and fire-prevention measures, observance of sanitary standards, and safety on the roads and in transport. In the last two years, we allocated 24 billion roubles for fire-prevention measures. This included bringing the share of schools equipped with fire alarms up to 80%. As a result, the number of fires reduced by 55%."
"As you know, the Federation now issues subsidies to the regions to pay remuneration to form teachers. To begin with, we decided to keep these subsidies and therefore these payments. But such a factor as differentials for length of service in the Far North and other areas with special climatic conditions was not taken into account until now when determining the size of these subsidies."
"We are planning to preserve the number of budget seats in the higher educational establishments. This year, they will number 197 for 10,000. Moreover, more students will be admitted to magistrate and post-graduate courses."
“As regards personnel training, it is one of the key aspects of development in any branch of the economy. Unfortunately, the system of vocational schools set up in the Soviet Union has to some extent gone to seed over the past decades. Currently, attempts are being made to restore it, but this cannot be done without the participation of the industry.”
“We have really done much to implement information technologies in everyday life. The idea of computer networks and access to the Internet in a tiny Siberian village was, until quite recently, implausible. It is a reality now-we have done it through a federal programme. Every Russian school-I really mean every, wherever it might be, in Siberia, the Far East, northern or southern Russia-has computer classes and access to the Internet. IT implementation will go on because economic and social development makes it a must.”
“As far education is concerned, we plan to focus on creating a system of national research universities, to support the introduction of modern pre-school education models and to implement advanced training programmes for schoolteachers.”