Life through the eyes of a housewife.
Last week Prime Minister Putin delivered his annual report to the Duma and the deputies asked him questions. One question was about pensions. Indeed, it was not a question but a suggestion: the time a person studies at higher or secondary education technical school should be included in a worker's pension eligibility.
All professional work begins with professional education. So it makes sense to include the years of study in a worker's pension eligibility when determining the future pension. Actually, this was the case before. But the rule was cancelled in 2002, now is the time to bring it back if we really want Russia to move from "commodity exporting to innovative type of development" because there can be no innovation without educated citizens.
However, Mr Putin has expressed a different opinion.
"Not everyone has gone to college or a technical school, he said. If a person has not studied, does it mean he should be on the short end of things? Or is it the case that we deliberately increase the pension rights of those who have acquired an education and seem to send a signal to society: "Go into study and then you will get a bigger pension?" We have to be more careful, we have to watch our step in adhering to social justice" (quoted from a transcript).
As a working woman I found Mr Putin's words puzzling. And not because the idea itself was debatable but because I could sense resentment and irritation with regard to education as such.
What is wrong with the Government giving a signal to society to go and study? Doesn't the state need educated citizens?
What is wrong with people who go to work after secondary school and those who studied another five years before starting work being treated in the same way in terms of pension eligibility? A person has exerted effort and given time to acquire an education and has worked in a highly skilled occupation, and why should he at the end of the day have a smaller pension than a dilettante? Or take another example: why is it that those who study at a military school for four years and then at a military academy for two years have this time included in a worker's pension eligibility but other citizens do not? Where is social justice? Why doesn't the Prime Minister urge us to be "more careful" in this case?
In countries with high living standards a person's material position depends on what university he or she has finished, his or her academic performance and any additional education he or she has acquired. Everywhere the promotion rules are clear-cut. You want to earn more, finish a college, you want to earn still more? Go to university. Still not enough? Complete a post-graduate course and gain a higher academic degree.
The state stimulates people not only to acquire skills, but to constantly upgrade their knowledge and skills. This is essential because technology is developing so rapidly that once you take a short break from studying you may find yourself falling behind.
In this country the approach is different. In their plans and concepts top officials tout the innovative type of development and promise to turn Russia from a commodity supplier into an importer of high technologies. But in reality the Prime Minister sent a clear signal that the state does not want its citizens to study.
The state is not going to encourage people's thirst for knowledge. On the contrary, it is nudging people not to study. Let them be menial workers. There are far too many scientists as it is. Wherever you look there are people with a higher education.
Although as a working woman I find this approach puzzling, I feel that there is some hidden message behind it. It remains to understand what it is.
People without a specialised education provide cheap labour. Try as we would we could never rival Asia and China in terms of the sheer size of cheap labour. Their labour will always be cheaper and there will always be more of it, so that avenue offers no future to us.
Our future is in brains and ideas, so we should create conditions for their development. If I, a simple working woman, understand it, surely the Prime Minister understands it too. His objection to years of study being included in a worker's pension eligibility is mere politics.
Apparently, he has a dislike of students who form the basis of "orange revolutions".
They are bad guys. They nearly smashed Chisinau to pieces. We could do with fewer students, with very few.
Hey, people, don't go to study. You will get a large pension.
It looks as if we will soon reach that stage. A logical result, considering our innovative type of development.
Yulia Kalinina's column