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Taking part in the meeting were members of the Government, the heads of the relevant ministries and agencies, the presidential plenipotentiary envoys to the federal districts, and the governors of a number of the country’s regions.

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon, colleagues. Today we are holding another videoconference on control of the implementation of presidential instructions.

Developing our country’s network of preschool establishments is one issue with a lot of social resonance that we have discussed on past occasions, and on which I have given instructions. In my Address to the Federal Assembly last year I said that all regions in our country face a real shortage of places in kindergartens. The situation varies from one region to another. In some places it is better, and in others worse. But in some regions, people have to sign up years ahead, several years ahead, to secure their child a place in a kindergarten.

“Developing our country’s network of preschool establishments is one issue with a lot of social resonance that we have discussed on past occasions, and on which I have given instructions.”

In the aim of changing this situation, I issued a number of instructions. First, the regions were asked to draft and implement programmes for renovating old preschool establishments and building new ones, paying attention to how budget money is being spent at the same time, of course. I also gave instructions on alternative preschool education options such as privately run and family kindergartens, on developing extended afterschool groups in general schools, and perhaps, just as important, on property tax preferences for kindergartens and the possibility of reducing rental rates. I want to hear a report on the state of progress on all of these instructions and what has actually been accomplished so far.

Another matter related to implementing last year’s Address is the introduction of a regional maternity capital system that will be financed by regional budgets. This will give a clear boost to supporting young families. I gave the instruction to examine in detail the practice in Ivanovo Region, where plots of land have been made available free of charge to large families for building a house or dacha, with a view, of course, to developing this practice in other regions too. I want to hear from the federal and regional officials responsible for carrying out these instructions what results have been achieved so far. That is the second issue.

Finally, the third matter, back in 2009, we agreed to establish a presidential cadet corps system around the country. I visited one of these cadet corps schools last year, in Orenburg, and it made a good impression. I want to hear about what has been done in the other regions, and maybe we will link up with Orenburg too, if we can. I remind you that the plan was to have another six of these presidential cadet corps schools up and running by 2014, one in each federal district. Incidentally, now that we have eight federal districts, we will need one more school. I am ready to listen to your proposals on this matter. We are to assess to what extent the work is on schedule, and whether there are any problems.

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