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Address of President of Russian Rectors' Union,

Rector of Moscow State Lomonosov University,

vice-president of Russian Academy of Sciences, academician Victor A.
Sadovnichiy at Presidential Council for Science, Technologies and Education
session

October 15, 2008
Moscow, the Kremlin


Dear Dmitry Anatolievich! Dear colleagues!

School problem is extremely important. As our President has said just
before, it is a fundamental condition to develop our country and society.
Russia has a powerful positive dynamics in its development now. The aim,
set in "Strategy-2020", is to become the advanced country. It is known and
proved that the most educated people make the biggest contribution into the
GDP. I believe that we have to consider the two main questions: what are
the main problems facing our school and what the school will be in future?

Let us try to answer the first question.

We believe that the main problem of today's school is the decline in
education's quality and, accordingly, the decline in motivation to get
fundamental education.

Unequal access to high-quality education does exist. Our President has
mentioned the territorial disparity, i.e. two-thirds of our schools are the
rural schools and their graduates are at unequal terms with their equals
from cities' schools to get following education. Besides, the volume of
paid services within the general education system became several times
higher at the last several years.

The second most important problem is the teacher's status and his
role. Russia has excellent traditions in the area. Teachers are the gold
reserves of our intellectuals. I would like to recall rural schools, which
were the breeding ground for enlightenment. Say, the prominent Russian poet
Sergey Esenin had graduated from a rural school at Konstantinovo. Rural
school's life is well depicted at the well-known picture of Bogdanov-Belsky
"Mental calculations". I have distributed the picture among academicians to
solve the task shown at blackboard and I believe that they have found an
answer already. The picture demonstrates rural school's atmosphere, the way
of interaction between teacher and pupils.

Our country is at the new way now. Still, problems are accumulating.
More than a half of teachers are of pension age or nearing it. Teacher's
work, alas, is not prestigious so far. University and pedagogical
institutes' graduates are unwillingly working at schools. A teacher could
hardly obtain decent dwelling and his salary is low. Statistically, the
salary's dispersal is from 5,000 to 30,000 rub.

The third important problem is schoolchildren's upbringing,
interrelations of school and family, their mutual interdependence.
According to social polls, the unjustified pragmatism dominates in these
relations, which is transferred to youth. For sure, it reflects on school
environment. Families with many children, low-income families, families
with disabled children need a support, too. In general, family-school
relations were intricate all the time. Leo Tolstoy said that teachers' and
parents' opinions were difficult to match. They see tasks of education
differently.

As our President has marked, school must improve children's health,
rather than deteriorate it. Data is that 80% of school graduates have
limitations on free choice of profession and 35% of male-graduates are not
suitable for military service for health reasons. Still, a lot is done for
school, and the situation has improved indeed, especially according to the
national project "Education". One should mention a big work done by
ministries and education institutions.

Let me tell you about the school of future and the way it should be.

The first is the contents of education. One should say that it does
not change much from the previous mid-century. The knowledge volume grows
exponentially, while new subjects, having no deep scientific contents,
appearing at school. It is obvious that one cannot teach to everything. We
believe that after wide discussion new demands to the basic education
should be approved, modern standards should be worked out. Just one
example. Forty-one textbooks on one school subject, being examined by
Academy of Sciences' commission, only two were found suitable. Just two
from forty-one!

I totally agree that a special attention should be paid to
mathematical education, as our President has mentioned. I would like to
make one digression to avoid accusations in mathematical chauvinism. Peter
the Great, having started the vast changes in Russian State, encountered an
obstacle - the lack of competent people. Sending of youth abroad to study
did not bring positive results. In 1701, Peter the Great has issued a
decree to set up in Moscow the first Russian mathematical and navigational
sciences' school. In 1715, a part of the school was transferred to St.
Petersburg to form Russian Naval Academy.

Famous historian Kostomarov has depicted an episode that has preceded
to the school's foundation. Prince Dolgorukov told to Peter the Great that
there is a special device in his possession to remotely measure distances
(it is a range finder now). The Czar wanted to see the device, but he was
told that it had been stolen. So, the Czar has ordered to buy another
similar device in France and to train to use it for different applications
- engineer, building, navigation and military. Actually, it started applied
mathematics in Russia - for example, GPS or GLONASS systems.

The second proposal is to realize President's idea to call-up
teachers - I would name it "Presidential Call-Up". As pointed out by
President, conditions must be created for the call-up, combining resources
of national projects "Education", "Available housing" and agricultural
complex.

I am sure, that a young family of teachers, starting work at school,
must get housing and decent salary. In this case, university graduates,
engineers and specialists from industry will come to school, too. A system
of continued additional education and professional training for teachers
must be set up, using possibilities of Academy of Sciences, its institutes
and universities.

We believe that teachers' summer schools, attached to leading
scientific centers and universities are needed. Such a school, attached to
Moscow State University and led by academician Kolmogorov, was active in
the seventies. Unfortunately, these schools became defunct in the nineties.


Let us consider how to revive lost traditions of educational TV
programs. Many very advanced countries have similar programs. Wider usage
of Internet resources will be useful for both teachers and pupils.

In addition, the third item. Which future school will be, say, by the
time of today's first-formers be graduates? We believe that school needs a
nice design. It must have modern infrastructure, nice buildings, rich
library, and access to Internet and sport facilities. Probably, it is
reasonable to launch an all-Russia contest for school building project and
spread the project-winner throughout Russia. There must be comfortable
atmosphere, talented teachers and striving for knowledge children at modern
school.

Experts in pedagogics are looking for new approaches to education. One
of these approaches is so-called "humane pedagogics", based on equal
participation of pupils in educational process.

We believe that schools must get a support from business community,
too. We would ask them to set up a "Talented children" fund, to carry out
Olympiads, to search gifted children. Olympiad movement is being created in
Russia now. Let us recall that there was a system of university districts
in Russia previously. Now the similar network of federal universities is
under construction. Probably, each university within the network should be
responsible for schools at corresponding district.

Family and parents should participate in school activities and be a
basis for school self-government. School will not get "new face" without
adequate self-government. Future school must:

1. Realize the constitutional right for education for all children and
motivate them to continue education. School is for everyone.

2. Create special conditions in education for disabled children, for
orphans and children from unfortunate families, pupils from rural schools
and gifted children.

3. Ensure social equity for all children during school education and
after it. School must be a social lift.

4. Ensure continuous renovation of education's contents and methods
based on close cooperation with science and practice. School means
knowledge and innovations.

5. Form at schools a common, useful, friendly, comfortable and safe
environment for teachers, pupils and parents. School is a special Universe.


All the above could be a basis for Presidential national school
initiative under provisional name "Our New School".

We believe it reasonable to set up a national commission or
coordinating council to work out joint State-public strategy on general
education. Taking into account the extreme importance of the considered
question, we suggest declaring 2010 "Year of Teacher".

Thank you for your attention.