Truancy with the prefect

Yuri Luzhkov obliged officials to monitor the number of schoolchildren in classes

Yesterday, the capital's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, called on the “whole world” to fight truancy, proposing to divide responsibility for the attendance of poor students at schools among local authorities.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the city government, which discussed seasonal school problems, the mayor recalled that “we have a law on compulsory secondary general education, and we are obliged to comply with it.” And so that officials do not doubt who exactly should take responsibility, Mr. Luzhkov emphasized that not only the department of education, but also prefectures and district governments should be responsible for the implementation of the law. The authorities decided to use administrative resources because teachers have not yet been able to ensure the universal attendance of all children from 7 to 17 years old in classes. “Of the number of identified children not attending school, only half returned to their desks. There may be only 100-140 of those who did not return, but these are 140 of our lost opportunities,” the mayor said.

However, the main responsibility of local authorities in relation to schools was also discussed yesterday at a government meeting. According to the program, by August, after major repairs, 14 schools, as well as 13 kindergartens and one boarding school, should be commissioned. By August 1, it is planned to commission 18 new schools and primary school blocks, with another eight schools to be commissioned by the end of the year. Mr. Luzhkov considers such a scale of commissioning of new facilities “decent.” However, in general, the concept of the development of secondary education for the coming years, in his opinion, requires improvement. The mayor did not see “a system that should develop” in the plans of the Department of Education for the next academic year. Therefore, the mayor went beyond the traditional topic of school renovation and started talking about a new brainchild - the “School of the Future” project.

This model should become Moscow’s response to the national project “Education”. And Yuri Luzhkov already announced it a month ago at a meeting of the State Council. “We are not talking about the creation of just one school, but about technical re-equipment and high-quality information support for all schools on the basis of the experience of public education that has been proven over centuries,” he explained then. Yesterday, the mayor once again reminded the heads of the education department of the need to rework the city target program for the development of education for 2005-2007, taking into account his proposals for the school of the future. According to the mayor, the program should take into account the further development of a multi-structured secondary education, support for both municipal and private schools, lyceums, and gymnasiums. In addition, by the school of the future, Mr. Luzhkov, in the spirit of the times, means a vertical linking kindergartens, which should prepare children for first grade, with schools, and schools with universities.

Irina BELASHEVA