New Education

From MT:

"With New Law, Free Education Could Become Thing of the Past"

 In the Soviet Union, you couldn't pay for schooling even if you wanted to. After the fall of the socialist empire, private education appeared, but free, public schooling was still available to all.

As a new law comes into force regulating Russia's education system, critics of it fear that a good education may now become a privilege you need to pay for. The law, which came into force Sept. 1, in time for the start of the new school year, will replace legislation passed in 1992 that guarantees free access to pre-school education, eight-year schooling and vocational education, as well as to higher education on a competitive basis. The 1992 law also makes a basic eight-year school education compulsory and establishes its secular nature. The Education and Science Ministry insists that these principles remain in place with the new law. But critics say the law in fact nullifies all of them. "The most terrible thing is that the new law on education violates the Constitution," argued Yelena Klimova, an activist in the Kaluga region who co-authored an open letter against the law to President Vladimir Putin in May. "Now authorities can do anything they want with education. They have the law," Klimova said. The contradictory interpretations stem from the complex language of the 142-page legislation, which institutes often subtle changes in all levels of education, from pre-school to universities. The Education and Science Ministry says the law will expand opportunities for students and make essential changes to the education system.   "We are prepared for the transition to the new law," said Natalya Tretyak, a first deputy education and science minister, at a press conference Friday, RIA Novosti reported. "We have been awaiting this transition and are confident that work under the conditions of the new law will be to the benefit of our students, teachers and all of society." When asked about the divergent views on the law, an Education and Science Ministry spokesman referred a reporter to an explanatory brochure posted on the ministry's website. The brochure says education remains free of charge on all levels but the law only guarantees the general availability of vocational education without mentioning pre-school education, basic eight-year schooling or higher education. The law seems to create a loophole by saying that educational organizations "have the right … to provide generally available and free basic and vocational education" but failing to oblige them to provide it. "The free-of-charge basis is guaranteed only by the letter of the law," Oleg Smirnov, an expert with the All-Russian Education Fund, said by telephone. "The main educational aspects rest upon additional education, which is, for that matter, not free of charge," Smirnov said. Smirnov was referring to the fact that only a certain set of classes defined by the government is guaranteed to be free for students. The emergence over the years of additional classes that require payment from students' families is a major concern for many Russians. In a Levada Center poll conducted in May, respondents were asked to name the biggest problems in schools: the top answer was "the rise in additional education-related expenses," cited by 47 percent of those surveyed. The Education and Science Ministry brochure names nine main benefits of the new law, including the introduction of new forms of education, such as distance-learning, and increased availability of pre-school and professional education. Yelena Shimutina, deputy director of the Moscow state secondary education center Tsaritsyno and head of the Institute for Development of Joint State and Public Management of Education, a nongovernmental think tank, praised these new features, such as the introduction of computer technologies. In her view, other advantages include the right to get state financing to study at private schools; the right for school and university students to choose their subjects of study; broader powers for parents and students to influence the educational process; and additional opportunities for disabled children to access education.

^ This new laws seems to be a bunch of double-talk, but I am curious to see how it is actually applied throughout the country. I remember going to a Russian elementary school in Yaroslavl to speak to a group of students (of course it was when I was first learning Russian so it was a little difficult.) First the school ran a double shift - meaning one group of students came in the morning and the other at night. The students were so excited to see a foreigner-  most had never seen one - that they stayed after school ended just to talk to me - I was bumped by a World War 2 (called the 2nd Great Patriotic War in Russia) veteran who randomly came to the school and decided to talk to the kids. When it was my turn the kids wanted to know what an American school looked like and I felt bad telling them the truth - especially seeing and hearing how their school was. It must have seemed like I was telling them a fairy tale or about another planet. In the end it was a success. That was really my one and only time at a public Russian school (except for the school/orphanage for the disabled - but I am not sure if that was public or private.) Hopefully, these new laws will help ALL the kids in Russia and get them ready for today's world rather than the world of the 20th Century. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/with-new-law-free-education-could-become-thing-of-the-past/485313.html