Official website of the President of Russia

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Question: The new academic year begins today for many schools. What would you like to say to Russian children at the start of this new academic year, and how do you like our school?

President Vladimir Putin: First, congratulations to all! To the students, teachers, and educators here, and everyone involved in education in Russia. Congratulations to parents. For all of us this is a big holiday. A great, bright, beautiful day.

As for the school, I am very impressed. The school will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year, and it fully belongs in the ranks of modern schools. First of all, of course, I want to thank the principal of the school and its team of teachers.

Here they use modern means to pay salaries and modern ways of working with the children. They pay a lot of attention to working with children after school. And the children themselves have told me that they would be happy to stay after school for several hours. And all of this benefits students and families. I simply believe that it frees up a significant amount of free time for parents. I am very impressed.

But, you know, despite the fact that today is a very bright and festive day, we must not forget the tragedy that occurred a few years ago. We cannot forget those children who never got to finish school — I mean the tragedy of Beslan. Especially today we must remember it.

But whatever happens either in the country or the world, life goes forward and goes forward in the important area of education. I was very pleased to note that the teachers spoke today about the first results of the national project for education. And I am sure that the situation will change only for the better.

Congratulations to you all and I wish you every success.