Tribune’s guest is the senator from the Republic of Tuva, a member of the Federation Council Committee for Social Policy, Mergen Oorzhak. He speaks about the problems of secondary and specialized education in Russia.
- We are speaking about people who graduated from the so-called vocational technical schools in Soviet times. Today they are called specialized colleges. What is the situation in the labor market for workers with specialized secondary education today?
- The topic of the professional secondary education is being discussed at various levels – both at the regional and federal levels, in the State Duma and the Federation Council. According to the International Labor Organization, the current situation in the labor market is thought to be stable in Russia. Our regions are different; it depends on their specificity. For example, the average unemployment rate in Russia is 5% of the economically active population; but in our republic, a beneficiary region, the rate is 13%. However, the republic is improving the index year by year. If we compare it with the period 10 years ago, we will see that our unemployment rate used to be higher than 20%. The crisis of 2008 influenced the situation, when the unemployment rate suddenly grew. Today, due to the stable development of small business, the unemployment rate is decreasing year by year in the republic. Last year the index was higher – 18-19%; today we have 13%. This is an indication of the authorities’ effective work on the spot and the effectiveness of local and regional programs. The modernized industry is playing a big role in our economy. The economy forges ahead, science is developing. Business is exploring new markets and niches at a fast pace. To maintain the trend, we need high-tech industry, and labor capacity should be at a high level. And this is confirmed by the experience of other countries.
- What is the situation with workers with specialized secondary educations in Tuva? Do you have a lack or oversupply of them?
- There are regions where industry is actively developing. There are regions where industry is developing at a slow pace. We are a region where industry and production are on the rise. And we need relevant staff with specialized secondary educations. We have relatively many investment companies in the region; they demand workers, people who will work at sites, for example, mining coal.
- Is the problem of training or retraining of such workers topical?
- The government supports the region in providing business with workers for jobs which require a more sensitive approach, a more professional approach, a modern approach, an innovative approach toward a settlement of business tasks. The corresponding financial resources are contained in programs for a decrease of tension in the labor markets. They are approved by the Russian government. However, the key role is played by the co-financing of the local, regional authorities.
The end of 2014 and the first half of 2015 were very significant in the country. Twice as much co-financing for re-training of personnel was allocated from the republican budget. We have experienced a serious reduction in the number of unemployed and those dismissed from enterprises, because companies are not interested in discharging experienced employees due to the fact that they don't know how to use a computer.
The development of vocational secondary education started to have attention paid to it a long time ago. And one of the first decrees of the President of the Russian Federation in 2012 was devoted to vocational secondary education. This program was oriented towards 2014. It has already been completed, but a strategy for the development of vocational secondary education was formed in Russia after it. It is a key document. The president set a task for the government in 2014 to form a list of popular and promising professions in the labor market that require vocational training. The list was worked out. 50 of the most promising professions, which are in demand in the labor market and require vocational training, were selected from the list.
Now the lists are on the portal of legal acts, where every registered citizen can comment on them, make some adjustments and participate in the further development of the document. It is a very important step for the government, as the list was formed on the basis of different questionnaires from different regions. One way of making the list was questioning all regions. More than 13,000 companies and organizations, including industrial and manufacturing ones, were surveyed. According to the survey, more than 43,000 professions were formed. Experts corrected the list up to 1600 professions. The top 50 most popular and promising professions in the labor market, which require specialized secondary vocational education, were selected from 1600 professions.
The 50 professions were classified according to the corresponding areas: software, rocketbuilding, navigation technologies and so on. The focus was made on high-tech professions and production. It becomes easily understandable at once how the global strategic objective of import substitution will be solved. The next stage is the development of professional standards. It will take place with the participation of ministries, departments and trade unions ... The National Coordinator is the Presidential Council.
- There is a tendency to receive a higher education and lowering secondary special education in Russia and other countries of Europe and USA. How would it be possible to increase the popularity of such professions in your opinion?
- Since the beginning of the 1990's, the number of our secondary specialized professional institutions has decreased, and the number of institutes and universities have increased. Championships of professional skills are organized in all countries in order to raise the prestige of vocational education. The most popular is the World Skills. This world championship for professional skills unites many professionals. Participants from various countries can exchange their skills with other competitors. Russia has become an active participant in this championship and it receives experience there. The results of the competition for professional skills are used during the development of professional standards and the list of the top 50 professions, which are in demand in the labor market. Not only the World Skills, but championships which take place at the level of our country and regions. It increases the competence of workers. Previously we had such a stereotype that only students with low marks enter vocational schools...
- Those who fail examinations.
- Yes, those who do not want and cannot study. We should get rid of this stereotype. Indeed, secondary vocational education in many industries is much more high paid because it has high-tech production and modernized places of work. Business intends to make its production constant in order to correspond to the economic requirements. This can only be done by a professional who can use modern equipment. The prestige of secondary vocational education is on the rise.
