Experts warned on Friday of declining secondary educational standards in Moscow after a school in the capital was closed over exam poor results.
The withdrawal of the school's license was the first such incident in 20 years, but experts speculated that other schools may suffer a similar fate in the near future.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the decision to close down the school on Friday.
Isaak Kalina, who heads the Moscow Education Department, said 50 percent of the school's 9th form students (14-15 years old) failed to pass mathematics tests, 62 percent showed bad knowledge of the Russian language, 68 percent did not succeed in chemistry tests and a total of 70 percent flunked English exams.
Efim Rachevsky, the head at another Moscow secondary school, said the closure had "created a precedent," and that there were "several dozen schools" in the capital that could also be closed down because of poor education levels.
A Moscow Education Department spokesman said the failure of schools to provide good education was a "crime," adding that the closure of the school was a "serious lesson" for other schools, as well as for education authorities.
"They should pay attention to the quality of education. Such cases will not be kept secret," he said.
In line with Russian laws, education at state primary and secondary schools is free throughout the country.
A poll conducted by Russian business daily Vedomosti in August showed 82 percent of Russians believe that the quality of school education has worsened since Soviet times, with only 5 percent saying that it had improved, 3 percent stating that it remained same and 10 percent saying they were undecided.
The worsening quality of school education is usually blamed on teachers' low salaries and insufficient qualifications.
Yelena Kuchma, the mother of a 7-year-old, said school teachers' growing "indifference" was one of the reasons for the falling education levels.
"Previously, if a student got a bad mark, a teacher was trying to improve his knowledge by holding additional classes and always informed the parents of their child's bad results. Now, no one cares," the 48-year-old Muscovite, whose daughter began school in September, said.
MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti)
