Teachers have been wondering whether Prime Minister Putin intends to fulfil the priorities he laid out as President
Teachers from all over Russia have presented a 13-point Programme of Anti-Crisis Measures for 2009 (ACM-13. 9) to the Government. The financial crisis is no excuse for saving on education, but the teachers decided it can certainly justify putting some of the more unpleasant reforms on hold.
The Second All-Russia Pedagogical Conference declared that Russian education was facing a systemic crisis aggravated by global financial problems. In this situation, they noted, "education policy emerges as a national security issue", and because the official anti-crisis programme does not address this problem, an alternative programme must be adopted (ACM-13. 9).
The teaching community demands that the Government support teachers, children, families and schools, and stop cutting education budgets in these difficult times. They propose making secondary education free, increasing Government-subsidized enrolment in higher education to the 2004 level, and offering paying students interest-free subsidies with payment deferred until the end of their education. (The Government is prepared to provide only easy-term education loans, and even these have yet to be approved by the banks.)
Needy parents of preschool-age children should have their subsidies for keeping their children in kindergarten doubled. Educational institutions operating under license should be exempt from taxes: the teachers complain that it is wrong to "tax a school and Gazprom equally."
According to their plan, at least 500 billion roubles should be allocated to support teachers.
Teachers' salaries dropped sharply because, starting at the beginning of this year, federal financing has been cut off in a number of regions. According to the conference participants, it has been a long time since teachers had it so bad. Teachers in kindergartens have it worst of all. In 2005, President Vladimir Putin had ordered that kindergarten teachers' salary be increased to the level of school teachers, but the order has not been implemented, and the financial crisis is eating into their salaries. It is high time to find out whether "Prime Minister Putin intends to fulfil the priorities of Putin the President", said Oleg Smolin, Deputy Chairman of the Duma Education Committee.
Another set of proposals is designed to expand the range of education, above all due to additional and distance learning. One more plan would put unpopular education reforms on hold for the remainder of the crisis. The teachers propose suspending the introduction of the Single State Examination, the transition to a two-level system of higher education and all fast-track accreditations of educational institutions for three years. They also demand an end to the closing of rural schools and specialised schools for disabled children without the creation of special facilities for such children in ordinary schools. The conference reaffirmed that parents must have the final say in deciding where their children attend school.
They warn that the state programme of anti-crisis measures developed on the basis of these proposals must be approved by Presidential Order or Government Decree no later than in the second quarter of 2009. Otherwise it will be too late.
Marina Lemutkina