VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“Support from Russian citizens has always helped us, and I’m confident that the government’s future line-up will rely on the people. We must never forget about the needs of ordinary people. We must always remember how government-level decisions influence the lives of all ordinary Russian citizens.”
“Protecting health means preventing disease in the first place. A healthy lifestyle is a key aspect here. We will create conditions for free sports facilities that are close to home or work, and combat drug addiction, alcohol abuse and smoking.”
“The government will pay special attention to how museums, theatres, libraries and creative societies operate in small towns, where there is the greatest deficiency of cultural pastimes. The Ministry of Culture together with heads of regions should draft a government cultural development programme for small towns and put it up for broad discussion by the intellectual community.”
“Cultural practices should regain their key role as leisure organisations. We will promote a system of amateur creative activities starting from secondary school, where the position of children's creative work organiser should be introduced (in each particular case the position can be filled by a film director, a painter, a choreographer or a musician), and allocate other needed resources. The important thing is that children should become familiar with Russia's national culture while still in school.”
“We must ensure that each citizen enjoys broad and unrestricted access to national and global cultural values. The government will support the creation of public electronic libraries, as well as museum and theatre Internet resources; it will purchase the rights to the free distribution on the Internet of outstanding films and plays.”
“We have allocated additional federal funds, 120 billion rubles, to modernise education in 2011-2013. We have also agreed with the regional governments that they will provide co-financing for this project. Especially, rural schools will receive twice the financing, which will help rapidly develop a network of effective rural schools across Russia, provide rural residents with education services that meet modern standards.”
“We have significantly increased government spending on education and schools nationwide, and are changing the very principle of financing: funding follows the student now, which means that the government in fact places an order for educating each student. Schools enjoy greater independence but have a bigger responsibility.”
“The standards of educational culture and the integrity of the educational environment are key indicators of our societal priorities, and which determine our national identity and perspective. The preservation of the common educational space is a crucial condition for the preservation of Russia, a guarantee of civil, ethnic and inter-faith cooperation.”
“Investment in education will be our key budget priority. Not only does education mean that we are training a workforce for the economy, it is also a crucial factor in the social development of society, one that shapes our values and unites us. In this sense, the role of education is inextricable with that of culture.”
“The demands on education keep growing. While modernising our schools and introducing new approaches and educational technologies, we must also preserve the advantages and undeniable achievements of the Russian system of education, including its fundamental nature.”
“We must establish basic order within the system of higher education. There is a large number of higher educational institutions on the market (including state-run universities) that are in direct violation of the human right to receive good-quality knowledge. Rosobrnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science) has been ineffective in this respect. I suggest that between 2012 and 2014 our leading universities, with the help of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and international experts, conduct an audit of all higher professional education curricula.”
“We will continue improving the Unified State Examination system. <…> This system should be revised both in terms of methodology and organisation. Independent public observers should monitor the process to avoid abuses and distortion of results, while at the same time preserving the system’s advantages and rational core. By this I mean an independent evaluation of the quality of children’s knowledge and the work of their teachers. But most importantly, this system will give students from rural areas and remote regions, as well as from families with varied income levels an opportunity to get into the best regional and federal universities.”
“The system of supplementary education should become the government’s responsibility as before – by that I mean the regional governments, although the federal government should also provide financial support. The salaries of teachers who work in this system should be gradually raised to the level of school teachers, as their professional qualifications as sports coaches and arts teachers are just as high. As a result of our policies, we expect to boost the proportion of students involved in extracurricular programmes to 70%-75% by 2018, with half of them receiving these services free of charge.”
“We must streamline the system of state benefits for university students. Those students who are in need of financial support and who would not be able to continue their education without it, should receive a monthly allowance for their living costs – that is, provided that they achieve good marks. This means an additional 5,000 roubles on top of what they currently get from the government.”
“We should draft a fundamentally new pension policy for the middle class so as to give people broader opportunities for making a responsible choice of scenarios for resolving their problems. Solutions to problems should not be found by the government alone but by people jointly with the government and with the assistance of the government.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable for the birth of a child to bring a family to the edge of poverty. A national goal for the next three or four years is to make this totally impossible. <…>I propose introducing special benefits for the birth of a third and subsequent children in the regions where the population continues to decline, in the amount of a child subsistence minimum payable until the child reaches three years of age. In practical terms, this would amount to about 7,000 roubles a month.”
“In the next few years, we must create a system to help every disabled person who is able and willing to learn and work find their educational and professional niche in life: from specialised educational programmes to jobs adapted to an individual's specific requirements.”
“The skilled jobs market is in need of serious change. We have to provide social mobility within workers' professions. Russia needs to reestablish its labour aristocracy. By 2020, this aristocracy should make up at least one third of skilled workers – about ten million people (25 million including their families).”
“In the final analysis, salaries should be paid not for belonging to a certain institution, but for making a real contribution to science, education, healthcare or culture, and for providing specific services to society. The heads of colleges, universities, medical and research establishments should be obliged to report their incomes on the same lines as those introduced earlier for state corporations.”
“Public sector pay should be linked to the specific conditions of regional jobs markets. <…>A mechanical rise in pay for one and all does not work. It is necessary to take more account of the qualifications and professional ratings of employees for their salaries. This means that basic pay should be combined with a more rapid increase in incentive bonuses and supplemental payments.”
