Press-Release №34
Questions with no answers
No bribes to enter higher educational institution?
Chechen school leavers and their parents are entering their "hot time". Yesterday's schoolboys should prepare for entering to higher educational institutions both local and Russian, and even foreign institutions. Last week the Minister of Education of the Chechen Republic reported to the President of the republic that there is an agreement with Moscow to send annually 100 Chechen students abroad. Ramzan Kadyrov told the minister to take under his personal control conduction of entrance examinations to high schools of the republic in order to avoid the possible bribery on entrance examinations.
All this, certainly, cannot but please, however, the issue of forthcoming examinations to high schools of the republic is one of the most discussed ones. Gaining of higher education today became not less prestigious than in days of the USSR, but can each graduate afford to study in high schools?
Many inhabitants of the republic are convinced that to get in a child into a high school without a substantive bribe is simply impossible. And we are talking about substantial sum estimated in US dollars. The sum fluctuates from couple of to several, and even more thousand dollars.
According to one of the inhabitants of the city of Grozny, two years ago "the price for entering" a high school, depending on a faculty, varied from 800 up to several thousand dollars. Now these sums have significantly increased. "The most prestigious faculties are medical, economic and law departments of high school, but, besides enormous amount of money, there is a need for big relations, - she says. My nephew, who last year left the school hardly getting a gold medal, could not pass entrance examinations in the Chechen State University , but some of his schoolmates and, who studied much worse, today are students of this high school. Naturally, solid bribes did their work here".
"Today, in the Chechen Republic it is not a secret for anyone that in order to enter a high school or obtain a target place in high schools outside of our republic it is necessary to pay for it. I do not think that something will change now, I do not believe to it. In fact, they all have their own ties among themselves. Despite of all interdictions to take bribes and possible negative consequences, officials will search for all possible and impossible ways to get money from parents of applicants. It was the case even during the Soviet times", - convinced another inhabitant of Grozny.
However, problems of bribing in high school of the republic are not limited only to entrance examinations. Those young people, who were lucky to become students, are expecting new problems. They can "gnaw a granite of the science", but the process of examinations and tests turns to continuous process of bribery. "Examination and tests in Chechen high schools equals to knowledge plus a bribe, - is joking a 24-years student of the university. There is no other way out".
The pilot project on UGE (united graduation examination), which was conducted in 20 schools of the republic, showed that the education system in our republic faces a serious crisis. In spite of the fact that according to the new system there are only two exams on essential subjects, Russian language and mathematics, the results were catastrophic. Totally 406 school leavers took part in exams on mathematics. Only four out of them have got good marks, and 153 schoolchildren have got “satisfactory”. Results of the exam on Russian were extremely unfavorable. Out of 1 491 pupils, who took part in this exam, only four have received "excellent", 99 have got "good", and 672 have received "satisfactory". That means, in general, 58.6 percent of pupils failed the exam on mathematics, and 48 percent have failed the Russian exam. It is obvious that having so low level of knowledge, parents of many children will have to count, first of all, on their purse.
The issue today is not the luggage of knowledge of our applicants, but also what will happen to them in five-six years, after study in high schools. Having bribed once entering a high school, a future student is practically doomed to giving them constantly. It is an axiom.
Entrance examinations in republican high schools will start in the nearest month. Then it will be clear, whether the problem of bribery in higher educational institutions was solved or not, and whether local authorities managed, if not liquidate completely this practice, but partially stop this ugly phenomenon. But now our applicants need to believe and hope that during the process of entering a high school and later, studying there, knowledge of a student will be taken into account, but financial situation.
20 June 2008
Information Center for CNO
The press-release is prepared and issued with support of Human Rights and Governance Grants Program at the OSI-Budapest. The Institute is not responsible for the activity of the Information Center for CNO and material published on the organization’s website.