President of Russia: “Our New School” project as a platform for education modernization

On January, 19 the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev held the first session of the Council for the Implementation of Priority National Projects and Demographic Policy. Among core topics were young citizens of Russia, their health and education.

The President reported that in 2010 the federal budget would allocate more than 15 billion rubles for the education modernization. Among the priority directions in this area is the national project “Our New School”. It is aimed at a gradual transition to new educational standards, change of school network infrastructure, preservation and improvement of pupils’ health, development of teachers’ potential and system of talented children’s support.

The priority directions of this project include a new system for teachers’ remuneration and improvement the quality of teacher education. Today there are 1,356 million pedagogues in Russia. Last year 130,000 teachers took courses to improve their skills. The university graduates, who have chosen a profession of a teacher, are going to receive special grants: in two years a thousand of 0,5 million rubles grants are planned to be allocated. Already by summer 2010 recommendations on improving the National Final School Exam (EGE) will be worked out. Among new directions is creation of systems to identify and support the youth with modern innovative thinking.

Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia: “We need to support such young people from the time they receive their first results at school, in university as well as when they have finished their university education. In this regard, it is necessary to expand the network of boarding schools affiliated with federal universities, supplement the system of correspondence and distance education at national research universities, and make use of other opportunities.

The government is responsible for making an annual report on the results of the “Our New School” initiative implementation, which is going to become a principal conceptual document of school education development in the near future.