Study at Home

Another pre-Soviet way of life is returning to Moscow. Home education has recently been legalized by city authorities. Moscow News applied to the education department of Moscow's government for comment.

Natalia Shelakhina, head of the department for preschool and primary education, saidthat until recently only parentsof sick and under-developed children were allowed to resortto home teaching. All parents who are not satisfied with the existing schools can hire private teachers or teach their children themselves.

Children learning at home will be formally registered in schools and their parents will get an equivalent of what the state annually spends on each student. The sum is officially estimated at 480 rubles (about $100).

Those who will want to improve their financial situation by skipping school will be disappointed. First, the amount is too small. Second, in order to get permission to educate a child at home the family must sign a contract with a school, after which its representatives examine the child's conditions. If that is approved, school representatives will provide a detailed curriculum and textbooks free of charge.

Parents, in turn, have to provide basic knowledge for their kids. The children will be tested once a month, term, or year, depending on the specific school. If a child fails the exams he or she will have to continue studying in an assigned school. The schools will issue certificates to those who satisfactorily pass the exams.

Only few families choose to tutor their children at home. The majority are affluent families whose children are studying music or preparing for careers in sports. Those parents usually are not interested in state money. The authorities refused to identify any of them.

The education department maintains that this form of education is unlikely to spread. Just like a century ago, only the rich can afford home education. When contacted by phone, education authorities in several of Moscow's districts could not say if any children were going to be educated at home, sounding rather perplexed.

In 1992 the new law on education cancelled the Soviet compulsory education system. Many children are now washing cars, selling newspapers or just begging, and their parents are satisfied that the children earn their living themselves.

Moscow's education department is presently trying to restore the old system of registering children of school age to ensure that all go to primary school. The police are looking up parents who do not let their children go to school.