People Centered Development: Russia's Education Minister Meets with Putin

Some may think I do this sort of thing too much. I don't think I do it enough as there're many meetings I never translate and post. This meeting centers on a topic I'll be paying even closer attention to since it forms the basis for both the Chinese and Russian political-economies, and that's People Centered Development which begins with the fullest possible education of a nation's people so they all have an opportunity to excel—the real meaning of leaving no child behind. This meeting was likely much longer than what the transcript reveals. But I can only transmit what's reported. Given all the construction you'll read about, perhaps the reader will wonder what the state of education was prior to all this activity. As with most areas of the economy that benefit people, the neoliberal mantra is to ignore them and let the market provide, and that's what was done to the state/industry supported education system that existed in the USSR—industry ceased its support and the bankrupted states had no monies to provide anything more than the basics, if that. Thus, one of Putin's many priorities was to rebuild Russia's entire system of education while also changing, or perhaps rejuvenating is more apt, the culture of education, of learning, that was one of the Soviet systems gems, and has always enjoyed a high degree of ethos within Russian society and culture.

So, here we have the meeting with Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov machine translated from Russian. It would be great to view the portfolio being shown to Putin during their talk:

Vladimir Putin: Where do we start, Sergey Sergeyevich?

: Allow me, Mr President, to start with infrastructure. All the tasks that you have assigned to the Ministry are being fulfilled.

We have a large-scale program to build schools. About 700 schools have already been built, and if in general for all programs – this is 900 schools. There is no such thing anywhere in the world. Many schools have swimming pools and modern canteens. We prepare both teachers and all educational literature at once.

The next area is kindergartens. In general, the problem of accessibility of kindergartens has been solved here: today it is 99 percent, while a few years ago it was 80 percent.

The most important school overhaul program initiated by you. Here we approached so that those funds that are available in the regions, remained also for major repairs.

I would like to inform you that the Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova School, which was built 85 years ago, has also undergone major repairs. Today it is a modern space-themed school. Valentina Vladimirovna herself participated in the design development. On September 1, it opened its doors, fully modernly equipped.

Vladimir Putin: [It looks] quite different now.

Sergey Kravtsov: This is a completely new school in fact.

We pay great attention to rural schools. More than 70 percent of all schools that are undergoing major repairs are rural schools. Equipment is also purchased. Students and parents themselves participate in the design.

A separate area is equipping schools with modern equipment, as you mentioned. We have created more than 300 "Quantoriums", 13 thousand "Growth Points". These are modern centers of additional engineering education, where children study physics, biology, and chemistry in depth after school. They are very much in demand and popular.

And a separate area is the development of secondary vocational education. Today, almost 65 percent of students go to college after the 9th grade. We have created more than three thousand modern workshops. The Professionality program is actively implemented, when the industry also invests in colleges. We have raised an additional billion rubles from enterprises.

An important area within the framework of "Professionalism" is the creation of a special training center for masters of industrial training. This was not the case, it is very popular. And we will train masters of industrial training for the secondary vocational education system. In 2024, we will open it [the center] at full capacity.

A separate area is the support of pedagogical universities. The project that you supported. We create technology parks, also supply modern equipment, and have carried out major repairs.

And today we are creating pedagogical classes, about three thousand pedagogical classes. Good career guidance is therefore in demand, especially since modern spaces are being created. There are also pedagogical "Quantoriums", in fact, the same modern equipment that we supply to schools, so that children can come to schools after graduation and work on modern equipment.

A separate task, Mr Putin, is to support the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation. We have carried out the necessary work to open 1,337 schools on September 1. Equipped with computer equipment and textbooks. About 30 thousand children had a rest in our children's camps.

Today, we are working with the heads of regions to develop a comprehensive program for the development of the education system in order to bring it up to the standards of the Russian Federation. We will pay special attention to the sports infrastructure. We met with the guys, most of them, almost all of them, say: we need gyms, infrastructure, but this was not enough. We will definitely do this.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to take this opportunity to pass on this book to you. We held the contest " What does it mean to be with Russia?". The guys sent us a lot of poems, drawings, and essays, and I would like to give you such a collection.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.