Valery Sozanov: "Publications concerning the 100-grade Unified state examination results of Caucasian natives do not relate to North Ossetia"

Valery Sozanov, the North Ossetian Secretary of Education and Science told
VC about the problems of secondary education in the republic.
What has changed in the educational sphere in the republic?

Within the framework of the integrated project to modernise comprehensive
education, all the schools have switched to a new financing system and a new quality-oriented
system of remuneration of labour has been introduced. Now, the school's wage fund is directly
proportional to the quantity of pupils, and schools are extremely interested in
attracting new pupils. Concerning average wages, this is still not high at just under 10 thousand rubles, but is close to the average
wage in the republic. The best teachers earn more then 20,000 roubles, which is
not bad at all for North Ossetia. Over a period of 3 years 352 million
rubles were allocated from the republic's budget for raising teachers'
salaries.
The sum allocated towards the renovation and equiping of schools came to 346 million roubles from the federal budget and
171 million from local budgets. In 2010 76% of all pupils can acquire
knowledge in modern educational complexes, while three years ago the
number was only 16%. Three years ago there was only one
computer for every 48 pupils, now there is one for every 11.

What problems, do you think, are inherent in North Ossetia?

The first problem to be mentioned is the preservation of schools in the countryside,
which have great difficulties in surviving due to understaffing and lack of amenities. An emerging trend of merging small schools
with big ones solves the problem of qualitative education for all and it
provides equal starting positions. Final examinations are coming up and, in
spite of the fact that the normative documents haven't been received from
the federal Ministry of Education yet, it is already clear that the Unified
state examination will become substantially tougher.
The directions given by Dmitry Medvedev have been well assimilated in the
republic: << A governor himself will be responsible for biased exams>>.
Despite numerous press publications concerning the 100-grade Unified state
examination results of Caucasian natives, they have little to do with
North Ossetia, as last year's results were very modest.
The issue of education for children with disabilities is very important,
especially of those who cannot study inclusively or in correctional
schools . 321 children living in the republic can study exclusively at home.
the issue of remote learning has been got moving at last. The Ministry of
Education has agreed on internet costs. 48 children have already commenced
their education. All the children will be provided with necessary computer
equipment by 2012.
An enterprise for school nutrition will soon get under way in North Ossetia. 43 million rubles have been spent restoring this plant from the
federal budget and 25 million from municipal funds. An enterprise for school nurturing is
a unique facility. There is only one other similar to it, in Kazan. Its
production capacity is 50 thousand portions per shift. The semi-prepared
articles will be delivered to school dining halls for further cooking (there are 18
of them in Vladikavkaz and all these kitchens have been furnished with new
equipment ) after which they will be distributed among the
schools.


Interview by Tamara Buntury, Vladikavkaz. Exclusively for VC