Presidential Library launches a new academic year in Leningrad region

On Friday, August 24, 2018 the Presidential Library held the meeting of the pedagogical council “Leningrad region: from high-quality education to human capital”. The forum brought together 450 pedagogues, experts and officials, and more than 20 000 remote participants. The meeting was broadcasted on “Live broadcast” website of the Presidential Library and in social networks.

Alexander Drozdenko, Leningrad Region Governor, highlighted the regional achievements in education, but stressed that it is impossible to move on without changes. “The future depends on the way we bring up the younger generation”, – he noted.

Drozdenko pointed out that it was necessary to ensure that teachers along with the entire educational system could transform fast in order to remain up-to-date.

Leningrad region authorities have been putting efforts into this. New schools – 6 per year - are opened, although in the past they used to open the same number of schools within a few years. Apart from state-of-the-art schools, centers for gifted children appear, too.

Sergey Bebenin, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region, called the human capital the key factor of socio-economic development of the region and the country as a whole.

The exact definition  of this term was given by forum’s participants as part of SMS-voting. Most of them (66%) believe that “human capital” is not just a certain set of knowledge, “but the ability to transform” on its basis.

According to 84% of respondents, the economy doesn’t anymore need employees with specialized skills or people with wide-ranging knowledge in different fields, on the contrary, in demand are people who long for self-improvement, who are able to work in the conditions of uncertainty.

The report of Sergey Tarasov, Chairman of the Committee for General and Professional Education of Leningrad Region, spotlighted competitiveness. In this regard, he reminded the participants about the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 204 of May 7, 2018 "On National Goals and Strategic Objectives of the Russian Federation through to 2024," which specifies the goal of entering world’s top 10 countries with the highest quality of general education.

Tarasov mentioned that Leningrad Region authorities are involved in the national projects in the field of education and science, and are also introducing programs that can become a model for others: “Digital School”, “Success of Each Child”, “Modern Parents”, “A Special Child” , "Young Professionals", etc.

Yevgeniya Yeliseeva, Rosobrnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science) representative, said that the official and the parent are fighting inside of her. And while the official checks certain quantitative figures of school activities, the parent is looking for the school’s “soul”. The participants agreed that both play an important role.

"The most significant issue of today is to make sure that the knowledge at school is complemented by upbringing," Bishop Ignatius of Vyborg and Priozersk expressed his opinion.

Svetlana Zhurova, State Duma Deputy, complained that the guidance of senior schoolchildren over junior pupils is not a common practice.

As part of the pedagogical council meeting, Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of Leningrad region and Sergey Bogdanov, rector of the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, signed an agreement on cooperation between Leningrad region and the University.

A number of agreements were also signed. The Education Committee of the Leningrad Region reached a cooperation agreement with the Vyborg Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Leningrad Region, the Izborsk Club and the Children's Rights Commissioner in the region. It was announced that from September 1 the position of school or children's ombudsman – a unique one in Russia -  will be introduced at all regional schools.

“It will protect the rights of students along with the rights of teachers and parents," - explained Tamara Litvinova, the children's ombudsman of the Leningrad region.

The current pedagogical council meeting had several unique features. Thus, apart from video-conferencing which enabled several regional schools join the meeting, the cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev at the International Space Station congratulated pedagogues on the beginning of the academic year. The Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad Region presented a unique immersive - creating the effect of presence - music program for the guests of the forum. The guests enjoyed the thematic photo display and the exhibition of "school innovations": robotics kits, programmable construction sets, interactive globes, holograms, etc.

It should be highlighted that the theme "Leningrad region: from high-quality education to human capital" was chosen not by chance. It logically continues the previous ones. In 2016, the regional pedagogical council addressed the quality of education from the aspect of the quality of life, and from the aspect of becoming a successful person in 2017. In 2018, the Presidential Library, the long-term partner of the 47th region, for the first time became the venue for the event.