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Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues!

Education is undoubtedly one of the state's most important priorities. We recently proposed implementing an additional target program — a priority national project in the field of education. This is more than just a way to resolve pressing problems or problems whose resolution is long overdue. It is a way to once again concentrate the government's and society's efforts and attention on problems concerning education, a way to encourage all of us to look for the most effective ways to develop this field, and a way to provide us with the courage to take necessary but much-needed decisions.

Today we spoke about pre-schools, primary and secondary education, vocational training, and higher education. The State Council working group has done a huge amount of work. Sergei Leonidovich Katanandov started working on this theme several years ago. I consider that proposals made by the heads of regions can act as a basis for practical actions that will improve our country's education system.

Pre-schools and kindergartens are a separate matter and, of course, closely connected with demographic problems. This issue must be considered separately and requires our special attention

One of the problems concerning primary schools is that there are a great many schools with very low number of students in Russia. It is obvious that here there are several issues that the working group must pay special attention to.

First. Maintaining such schools is very expensive and the education that students receive remains mediocre. At the same time I agree with those who consider that, while resolving these difficult questions, we must take the particular characteristics of each region, territory and municipality into account.

Almost all those who spoke today said that it is necessary to apply new methods and new approaches towards modernizing the education system. Almost all proposed expanding the system of per capita financing for schools.

Along with this, per capita financing is not possible without defining its so-called base requirements. This means that financing must be determined according to objective criteria. It is necessary to know in advance what will happen to the base requirements in the process of implementation so that they don’t degrade and so that any attempts by authorities to cut financing could be prevented.

It is necessary to know the amounts and sources of financing presently received by municipalities, regions, and given establishments before changing to the new system of financing that the working group proposed.

The proposed changes should improve the education system — not worsen it. This means that we must operate very carefully: gradually expanding the experiment, extending it to different regions and, first and foremost, to those regions that wish to introduce this system and which are ready to introduce it.

We are still talking about an experiment but, naturally, it should have a legal basis and this means that all legal restrictions should be eliminated.

And finally, the last point. The principle of free secondary education must be preserved unconditionally.

We spoke a great deal about universities and about their innovative programs. This is a very important part of university education. Of course, the state must first and foremost support those institutes of higher education who are able to effectively use the financial resources the government has allocated for this purpose.

This year we have allocated five billion rubles and next year we will allocate fifteen billion rubles for these purposes. Also, there is no reason to always look to the Government's Stabilization Fund. At the beginning it is necessary to use available financial resources, while the state, the Cabinet and Ministry of Education and Science must develop objective criteria to determine how ready universities are. Their readiness must be determined not according to their long-standing reputations or titles, but rather based on their actual readiness to implement innovative programs.

The level of government support, the universities’ real future status as higher learning institutions, their attractiveness for applicants will depend to a large degree from the way they use financial resources allocated for this purpose

Today's meeting is only one stage in the large-scale systematic work towards perfecting the Russian Federation's education system. As usual, following today's meeting I will formulate the necessary orders for the government. I expect harmonious and effective work from the federal and regional authorities in this field.

Thank you very much for your attention. All the best.