Today, at a plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm Territory, deputies approved the governor’s draft law “On scholarships and additional forms of financial support for students in general education institutions, educational institutions of primary and secondary vocational education.” According to the governor’s project, students in the tenth and eleventh grades of general education institutions are excluded from the list of scholarship recipients.

The Minister of Education and Science of the Perm Territory, Raisa Kassina, insisted in her report that there is no correlation between the Unified State Exam results and the availability of scholarships. Igor Papkov agreed that the current edition requires modification, but not complete abolition: “Treating an abrasion on the palm with amputation is too radical.” “This scholarship should be considered not as a piece of bread, but as recognition, a fishing rod,” noted Mr. Papkov.

During the discussion, Daria Eisfeld emphasized that despite the minister’s statements, the region is not unique in its experience. High school students in Tomsk, Ulyanovsk and Kemerovo regions receive scholarships for good grades. Moreover, in the Kemerovo region financial incentives start from the second grade. Schoolchildren receive six-month scholarships from 1 to 2 thousand rubles. In addition, a federal platform has been created on the basis of the Kemerovo region to transfer this experience to other subjects of the federation - “Regional system for identifying support and stimulation of gifted children.” “The program at the federal level has received methodological and psychological recommendations that confirm its effectiveness in stimulating motivation,” Ms. Eisfeld noted. The deputy emphasized that in the Kemerovo region this program has been in effect since 2011 and has not been interrupted even in the most difficult times for the region.

Ms. Eisfeld was supported by Dmitry Skrivanov. The deputy recalled the resonance caused by parliamentarians’ refusal to allocate 40 million rubles. to pay teachers for special achievements. (last year, the program of the regional Ministry of Education’s “Steps” project, which involves financial incentives for teachers based on the results of the unified state exam, was reduced by 40 million rubles - Kommersant). Ilya Shulkin said that if the grades do not correspond to the students’ knowledge, or the students study something that is not in the Unified State Examination, or the Unified State Examination itself is bad, “this is not the students’ problem.”

Vladimir Danilin spoke out against. The deputy referred to his experience as a schoolboy in the 1950s. In his opinion, then schoolchildren studied simply because they had to study well. He was supported by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Chibisov: “As a solid C student, both at the university and at school, I never applied for or received any scholarships, and I think that paying for B’s and A’s is corrupting the younger generation.” Andrei Kolesnikov noted that it is worth motivating not just those who keep up with the school curriculum, but gifted children. Ksenia Aytakova, citing her teaching experience, stated that “money has never stimulated students.”

As a result, the governor's project was adopted. Only three deputies (Dmitry Skrivanov, Vladimir Chuloshnikov and Daria Eisfeld) voted against. Twelve parliamentarians abstained.

An alternative project proposed by the unofficial parliamentary association “Group of Comrades” led by First Deputy Speaker Igor Papkov was rejected. The parliamentary bill, on the contrary, expanded the list of scholarship recipients to eighth and ninth graders. However, the basis for receiving scholarships was supposed to be “success in academic, physical education, sports, social, scientific, scientific and technical, creative, experimental and innovative activities,” and not “A’s” and “B’s” for studying.

Valeria Umanets

Scholarships for schoolchildren will be canceled because money is “corrupting the younger generation”