MOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - No drastic changes are planned for this school year, which begins September 1, but some experiments and innovations are on the agenda, the Russian education minister said in a RIA Novosti interview.
Andrei Fursenko said that one of the current experiments in Moscow was an extension of elementary schooling from four to six years, and another involved making budget allocations for schools proportionate to the number of pupils.
The minister said textbooks would be more thoroughly analyzed and prepared. In particular, he said the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Education would be involved in the process. "Initial examination has shown that some textbooks contain mistakes, and even serious drawbacks," Fursenko said.
He said the Education and Science Ministry would set itself the goal of making school textbooks better and clearer. "Our objective is not to have just one textbook on every subject, [but] nor should there be dozens of them, as this will disorient both teachers and students, and universities as well," the minister said.
Fursenko continued that this year the country had a hundred more new schools than it did a year ago.
However, the minister said a great deal needed to be done for rural schools. Fursenko said it was difficult to guarantee high-quality education for the 6,000 schools in the country that had only about 10 students, as one teacher had to teach many subjects. Therefore, he said, schools would be expanded. He added that the "school bus" program, which provided transportation for children and had already been developed in some regions, would be essential for this project.
