MOSCOW, August 16 (Itar-Tass) —— More than 13 million children will go to school in Russia in the new academic year, or by 260,000 more than in 2011, chief of Russia’s consumer rights protection authority Gennady Onishchenko said.
“A total of 47,823 schools throughout Russia will welcome 13,356,000 schollchildren,” he said. He also noted that due to various reasons, such as capital repairs or inferior number of pupils, a total of 584 schools will not be opened from September 1. At the same time, as many as 89 new schools will be opened in a number of Russian regions, such as the Altai Territory, the republic of Dagestan, and the Moscow region.
Onishchenko also spoke about preparations for the new academic year. “As of now, some 70 percent of works (repairs, purchase of furniture and equipment, etc.) are already over at 28,613 school buildings,” he said and added that situation differs by regions. Thus, schools in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region are only 35-percent ready for the next academic year, schools in the Far Eastern Chukotka autonomous area are 38-percent ready, and in the Sverdlovsk region the figure is mere 12.6 percent, while in a number of regions schools are already 95-percent ready.
Onishechnko specially stressed the importance of equipping schools with specific modern furniture. In his words, as many as 14,273 schools have already bought such furniture. “A proper school desk is key aspect of healthy life of our children,” he stressed.