There finally will be warm toilets! The State Duma will finally deal with rural schools

Sergey Baimukhametov

Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the lower house of parliament, announced the good intentions of the deputies of the State Duma today in his telegram channel.

Let's quote:

“In order to achieve high rates of economic growth, it is necessary to start with improving the quality of education. If we analyze the development of any world power and the reasons for success in the economy, everywhere this is preceded by an increase in the quality of education. Only then comes the creation of technologies, innovations, and only then - economic growth ... There are almost 40 thousand schools in our country. 56% of them are rural. Most schools are on the municipal budget. At the same time, in rural areas, as a rule, the most problematic. This does not allow solving the key issues of schools:

1. Providing qualified personnel.
2. Maintenance and repair.
3. Creation of extended day groups.

Next week we plan to adopt amendments to the law on education. The decision will give the right to regional authorities to transfer schools to the regional budget.”

Such plans of Parliament can only be warmly welcomed. However, it is impossible not to think about questions of an existential nature.

So, firstly, there is a powerful rich state with its superbudget, there is a ministry, and finally, there is a regional budget - and rural schools are on a lean municipal ruble, which even these three points indicated by Volodin cannot provide. This means that decades of reforms and trillion-dollar national projects are rushing over the country like a whirlwind, and the deputies have only now seen that rural schools are eking out a miserable existence.

Second, causation and justification. It is Soviet-iron: improving the quality of education is necessary to ensure high rates of economic growth and the creation of technologies.

That is, not a state for a person, but a person for the state. But after all, we have not been living in the years of the first five-year plans for a long time - a century has passed since then. Probably, it is high time to change the cause-and-effect relationships and justifications: a decent education, a decent life should be provided as an end in itself of the social and state structure.

That is, children in the rural outback should receive a decent education just like that - for the development of their personality. Because it can't be otherwise, it can't be otherwise.

Worthy civilized conditions should be created for children in the rural outback just like that - because it is impossible otherwise, it cannot be otherwise.

A decent education, a decent life is the norm, and everything else: the state, the economy, and so on, is a consequence.

It cannot be said that our parliament did not pay attention to the creation of decent conditions for rural schools. I remember that 5 years ago the issue of school toilets was discussed in the Federation Council. Then the chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, declared to the whole country:

“I think it's a shame for the regions, it's a shame for the authorities, it's a shame for the senators sitting here, governors and everyone else that we have 3,200 schools without warm toilets. Under our weather conditions... This is the health of children, and then we wonder why we have growing infertility. This is a disaster for girls, boys. It's a shame for all of us".

Exactly one year later, the problem of school toilets was again discussed in the Federation Council. It turned out that since 2017 something has changed, but not radically. Once again, Valentina Matviyenko shamed everyone and offered to allocate federal money to equip schools with warm toilets:

“Of course, the school is different from school, the price of the issue of insulating school toilets can be different. However, this is not a spaceport to build…. What is the problem? Let's agree that the regions will inform the Federation Council about the price of the issue before January. How much money is needed to insulate all school toilets in problem areas? I hope that we will find financial opportunities to support these regions. We are talking about the health of children, it is a shame in our country to discuss this issue again”.

Four more years have passed since then. The State Duma manages our money. She approves the state budget. And so, the State Duma is preparing literally next week to start considering the issue of changes in the law on education, on more complete funding of rural schools. Will wait. And then we will wait for the funding to reach the Russian hinterland.