Half million first graders to start school tomorrow

The summer holidays have come to an end for Russian pupils and
students. All schools are having traditional assemblies, 11th graders
will welcome first-graders for their first lessons, ITAR-TASS reports.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has visited a school in the
Stavropol Territory.

1,464,779 first graders will start school on September 1, Russian
Deputy Minister for Education and Science Maksim Dulinov said.
Dulinov said that the number of first graders increased by 33,000.
Their number has been increasing since 2007.

48,000 schools will open, over 28,000 of them in villages. About 20
schools were unprepared for the new academic year, they still have not
finished renovating.

New standards were implied on September 1. Classes have a maximum
capacity of 25 pupils, there will be three PE classes, a limit for
school book weight was set. Bedrooms may be organized in schools with
4 square meters per pupil.

Over 7 million students will study this year, a drop by 500,000,
compared with 2010. Dulinov says that it is a demographic problem.
There will be about 1100 higher education centers this year, including
482 private ones. Over 2 million will study in colleges and technical
schools.