Dmitry Medvedev: “The event would not have happened without the efforts of the leadership of Tatarstan and all citizens”

By 1 million more schoolchildren last year

Immediately after the tour around the college in Krasnogorsk, Dmitry Medvedev held a video conference on the development of the system of preschool and school education facilities on the basis of the new institution. It was attended by 30 leaders of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

“As part of the national project, a large-scale construction has been launched so that every child in our country had the opportunity to study in a normal modern school, preferably in one shift, especially since last year the number of schoolchildren has increased by almost 1 million people,” said the prime minister of Russia.

This year, almost 2 million children have sat down at desks for the first time in Russia. According to Dmitry Medvedev, “the budget from 2016 to 2021 on the basis of co-financing for the regions provides significant funds, up to 200 billion rubles, for the creation of new places, bringing schools in order, the elimination of the third shift (because it is the most disadvantaged in terms of education) for the construction of schools in rural areas. More than 155,000 new places have already appeared due to them.” Quite many regions solve this issue without resorting to federal funding and use their own resources, being well aware that education is the future of the region and the country.

According to the prime minister, more than 170 new educational institutions in Russia have opened their doors by the beginning of the academic year. Fifty-eight out of them were built using federal funding. By the end of the year, more than 200 objects are to be put into operation, 67 of them are also being built with state participation.

“The pace is good, it should be continued,” said Dmitry Medvedev. “Modern comfortable school building directly affects the child's desire to come there to study, but, of course, an interesting school programme is also important... Some schools introduce new compulsory disciplines, such as chess in primary school. Even in villages, there have appeared classes with high-tech equipment: interactive panels, 3D printers. By the end of 2024, such growth points should be 16,000. In the new academic year, such centres have been opened in 200,000 rural schools.”

“In recent years, the country has done a lot of work at all levels of government to deal with long waiting lists to kindergartens for children from 3 to 7 years,” said the prime minister of Russia.

More than 1 million places have been created. In 75 regions of the country, this problem has been completely solved and they have moved to the project of availability of nursery groups. By the end of 2021, 157,5 billion rubles is to be allocated for the creation of 235,000 additional places for children under 3 years. Today, about 20,000 nursery places have been opened.

“For comparison. From 2013 to 2015, up to 130 billion rubles were allocated for the creation of places for children from 3 to 7 years... Now we are talking about a narrower segment of primary education. Therefore, money should be spent as efficiently as possible,” Dmitry Medvedev reminded.

Tens of thousands of places in schools and gardens in several years

Rustam Minnikhanov was the first among the leaders of the regions to report on the activities in the field of construction of educational institutions. In one day alone, on September 2, five schools were opened in Tatarstan: two schools in Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk, Innopolis.

The president of the republic communicated with the prime minister, being in the yard of the multidisciplinary lyceum No. 186 Prospekt opened in Kazan. This modern school with two swimming pools, two gyms, a football field, a tennis court and a hockey box is designed for 1,224 students. The average age of teachers is 32 years. The building was erected within the national project Education in the district of Solnechny Gorod, where there are many new buildings. It is assumed that another school will grow nearby soon, together with Perspektiva, it will form a single educational complex.

“Today, 317 first graders have come to this school. Eleven first grades have been opened there. By the beginning of the new school year, five schools and two large outbuildings for 5,700 places have been commissioned... In addition, 17 new kindergartens for 3,330 places have been put into operation. As part of the state objectives, we are going to open another 2,300 places in 10 pre-school institutions with nursery groups by the end of the year. Under the national programme, major overhauls have been carried out in 147 educational institutions. The education system of the republic is ready for the academic year,” said the head of Tatarstan.

From 2010 to 2018, including within the framework of the state programmes, 54 schools for 22,000 places have been built in Tatarstan. The cost of the construction amounted to 17,31 billion rubles. The construction of 10 schools (5,500 places) in 2018 was financed with 4,65 billion rubles. By the end of 2019, two more schools for 1,650 places are going to be put into operation in Tatarstan. Next season, eight new schools in Almetyevsk, Kazan, Pestrechinsky district, Chistopol and Yelabuga are to be opened.

The cost of the construction of 209 kindergartens for 31,000 places from 2010 to 2018 amounted to 17,59 billion rubles. In 2018, 1,2 billion rubles were spent on the construction of 10 preschool facilities (1,500 places). It is expected that in total more than 6,000 places will be opened in 30 new kindergartens in 2019.

Colleagues from other regions are catching up

Dmitry Medvedev highly appreciated the work done in Tatarstan in the organization of WorldSkills:

“I also want to thank, because without the efforts made by the leadership of the Republic of Tatarstan, all residents of Tatarstan, of course, such event would not have taken place. It was held at the highest level. Once again, I congratulate you on this. This is indeed a very important event in the life of our country, in the development of secondary vocational education, the emergence of new qualifications. Everything has turned out very well,” Medvedev reported.

The head of the Russian government was surprised: if there are 11 classes in the school, it turns out some of the children will study in 1 L class? But, as it turned out, this is not the limit. Governor of Vologda Oblast Oleg Kuvshinnikov said that in Cherepovets there has been built the largest school in the region for 1,500 places, modern, digital one. There, 400 children went to the first grade. The region is opening kindergartens and kvantoriums — the institutions of additional education.

The head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, noted that there are 58,000 first-graders in the region. In Ufa, a polylingual school for 1,000 places has been opened. In total, in 2019, the republic launched 21 schools and 21 kindergartens. “This has never happened before,” said the head of the republic.

Congratulating the leaders of the subjects of the Russian Federation on the beginning of the school year, the prime minister highlighted the good progress of the construction:

“You name the numbers and the heart rejoices. This is due to the national project. Almost all regions are introducing new schools and kindergartens. We will lay this course for education to develop in our country.”