Challenges in Russian High School Admissions

They didn't accept him,

can you believe it, he wasn't accepted into the tenth grade at School 36 with a GPA of 4.45,

with a certificate with no Cs, and no Cs on the OGE.

Parents all over Russia are recording such videos now. The problem is the same everywhere.

Instead of being transferred to high school, ninth graders are literally being pushed out into colleges.

That is what they now call the former vocational schools and colleges.

The principal explains this by saying that the number of places has been cut, there is a shortage of teachers, and

they cannot accommodate everyone. We do not want to go to college, we want to study.

We want, after all,

to get the chance to finish school and make a decision later. That is, not at 15,

but at least at 17.

At parent-teacher meetings, teachers assure us,

that the children simply won't cope in the tenth and 11th grades because of low grades

and advise looking for a vocational school. That's how it is.

This is a state-sponsored cleanup of the entire territory.

Because if a person doesn't go to the tenth grade, it's absolutely clear,

that their path to the army will be very, very short.

That is, simply put, they can be drafted in two years.

With college, there are special rules regarding deferment.

And, essentially, by using a deferment once in college,

a person can no longer effectively use it again.

And not everyone in such a case can get an exemption based on

health or secure alternative civilian service, and they stand right before

the now very, very high risk of dying in the army. Officials have their own arguments.

The authorities actively praise the system of secondary vocational education.

They enter the labor market in a fairly short period of time,

with a decent salary, and can plan their future.

Previously, the Kremlin instructed the government to prepare by 2028

about one million representatives

of working professions.

The Minister of Education recently reported at a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

This year, there are 880,000 state-funded places, which is about 30,000 more

than last year.

And kids are going to colleges, the interest is indeed growing.

The fact that not everyone needs to get a complete secondary and higher education

is also directly stated by the head of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Valery Falkov.

The Prosecutor General's Office previously sided with the parents.

The agency issued a statement in which it recognized

that competitive selection for high school is illegal.

The Ministry

of Education stated that the school indeed can refuse admission to the 10th grade

if there are no available places,

or if the child did not pass the selection for a specialized class.

In that case, they must provide them with a place in a regular general education class.

The only problem is that such classes are becoming fewer and fewer across the country.