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Sept./Oct.
2001
COVER
PAGE PRACTICAL
INFORMATION REGIONAL
NEWS FEATURE
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Regional
News
Russia The government says it will allocate US$1.87 billion through 2005 to reform the system, which suffered major setbacks when state funding evaporated after the collapse of the communist system. For the past 10 years, Russia's schools have been plagued by salary arrears, teacher shortages and a lack of modern equipment and textbooks, especially in remote regions. Higher education has become increasingly expensive and subject to corruption, as it is becoming more and more commercialized. The declining status of teachers is particularly alarming. One source said the profession has become so unattractive that only about 50 percent of pedagogical college graduates go on to teach after graduation. Among the proposals are to lengthen the pre-university education from 11 to 12 years and to administer a unified test that would make college entrance more egalitarian. To pass the existing exams, students must often hire expensive tutors, while applicants from remote areas must scrape up cash to travel to the institutions they wish to attend. If it is
introduced, a unified test could at least reduce corruption among professors
involved in admitting students and give a chance to truly gifted students. —
St.
Petersburg Times
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your comments to the editor.
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President
Vladimir Putin recently approved a plan for reforming the country's under-funded
education system. The reform measures will focus on improving conditions
for teachers, making higher education more accessible, reviving people's
trust in the system and adjusting the system to better suit the country's
needs.