The authorities thought about providing rural graduates with benefits when entering universities

In the State Duma, the idea of ​​priority admission of graduates of rural schools to technical schools, colleges or colleges has appeared and has even already been discussed. Like, they are pushing the city villagers in the competition of certificates. No matter how you blur the lines between the city and the countryside, or equalize the standards, the quality of education in an ungraded school is different. And everyone takes the same exams, and only the competition of certificates is important for admission.

The start of the admission campaign in secondary specialized educational institutions (colleges) is just around the corner – from June 20 to August 15. However, no matter what the government and parliament decide, the innovations will not work in 2023, it takes time to discuss and agree. But the idea formulated by Yana Lantratova, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Education of the State Duma and sent in the form of a letter to Mikhail Mishustin, is timely.

The essence of the proposal is to provide graduates from the village with a preferential right to enter colleges and other colleges. Because with their grades on the certificate, they cannot compete directly with urban youth. And the townspeople, it turns out, are displacing the villagers even in such areas as veterinary medicine, crop production or “agricultural machinery.” “This is all the more important in the context of import substitution in the context of sanctions, as well as for resolving issues of food security in our country,” the deputy noted.

– Here I would like to immediately understand the mechanism that is proposed for introduction, – lawyer Stanislav Popov comments. – There is a federal law “On Education”, you can’t take it and write a priority for someone, even if it’s completely fair. Yes, when entering universities, priority was given, a quota for the children of NWO participants, but this is an exceptional case. And here I see two ways. Or add school graduates from villages and small towns to special preferential categories of applicants, where orphans are already listed, for example, children from large families, children of Heroes of Russia, etc. And immediately specify the nature of the benefit, because not all of the listed “go to the top of the list.” Large families or orphans, for example, compete on a separate preferential list. The second option is targeted sets for future specialists who will remain working in the countryside. With the period specified in the contract. But here the history is rather not legal, but regional or municipal, departmental.

During the discussion of Lantratova’s proposal, the idea of ​​target sets for villagers was also supported by the head of the Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs, Yaroslav Nilov. Like, it is necessary to give priority, but on the condition that after studying, the young specialist will return to his native land. With working off at home, that is.

Ivan Abramov, deputy head of the Federation Council committee on economic policy, spoke about introducing a benefit not everywhere, but in certain territories of the Russian Federation. The senator said that with a surge of interest in secondary special education in the country, “in some colleges we have five people per place.” And it would be necessary to analyze in which regions this happens, and provide “an opportunity for everyone to get a working specialty.”

Of course, the problem of inequality between the city and the countryside in matters of admission after school has been discussed before. Oleg Smolin, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, spoke a lot about this, for example, calling for “restoring the system of preferential admission and additional state support for rural children.” Rural schools remain small and closed, they are underfunded, there is a shortage of teachers, they have poor wired, or even mobile Internet …

“We have state programs and projects for rural schools, such as the “Zemsky Teacher” (the teacher receives a million rubles and goes to work in the outback for 3 years), says Evgeny Serov, an expert in the field of education. – Either a program for the integrated development of villages and small towns, or a “digital environment”: “Growth Points” for villages, “IT Cube” centers… But the situation is still far from ideal. And the tasks of the OGE after the 9th grade (and the USE after the 11th) are the same for everyone.

Now about target sets. The concept itself appeared in the post-war period and concerned mainly universities. In secondary specialized educational institutions, targeted recruits were rare – except perhaps in medicine or military schools, police, naval, etc. There were republican target recruits, by the way, we now also have benefits for the small peoples of Russia. There were professional ones, including “for collective farmers”. But I would not say that for the villagers such benefits were massive and had a drastic effect on admission. I remind you that in those days, when entering a technical school, college or vocational school, they took exams, wrote an essay, and had an interview. The level of training “under Brezhnev” did not differ much in the countryside and even in Moscow, if we take ordinary or “rabfak” schools.

As MK found out, different mechanisms are working today in different countries of the world so that everyone can get an education. But in most countries, college is the third level of education, and not the second, as we have. In Norway, for example, vocational secondary education can be obtained at school. After 10 years, the branches of schooling are divided into academic and professional. Those who chose “professional” after 13 years of school leave with a ready-made diploma of a specialist in their hands and can work. By the way, universities in this country are paid and very expensive.

In Finland, all levels of education are free and “assess-free” – there are no grades even at school. And everyone from school can go at least to college, even to a university, the question is whether education in knowledge will pull. And in the USA, where, on the contrary, almost all education is paid, the system of public colleges is developed. This is such an under-bachelor’s degree, where you can learn to be an administrator, a nurse or a police officer. You can also pay for a university or college with a grant, this is an extensive system where benefits are provided for success in studies, sports, and social work.

Countries such as Germany, France, Denmark, and others have launched many free programs – partly state, partly municipal or university. Including, colleges under these programs accept everyone, even foreigners. And in the UK, theoretically, you can study for free at a university or college. But for this you need to get a scholarship – either from a private foundation or from a private person, memorial, regional (there is a scholarship for countries – members of the Commonwealth from developing countries), etc. Or a scholarship from the college itself. An analogue of the latter in Russia is the “Green Wave” in top universities, when promising students are taken to paid places, and the university pays for them.