The briefing focuses on the launch of the My School Online project, which provides access to high-quality educational materials for use in unsupervised home studies.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Briefing by Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov
Sergei Kravtsov: Good afternoon, colleagues,
Our general education institutions are now working remotely. Pupils are staying at home for obvious reasons. The teachers are staying indoors as well. We realise that despite the circumstances our schoolchildren should continue to receive education.
There are many resources that make it possible for the pupils in different classes to pursue their studies. So far, there’s no single resource that would offer access to all approved textbooks that are compliant with the educational standard and are included in the federal list of textbooks.
So, the largest publishers of educational literature, which publish textbooks included in the federal list of textbooks, and whose textbooks comply with the federal educational standard, contacted the Ministry of Education. From today onwards, these materials will be available at cifra.school.
Importantly, each subject is broken down by academic unit, in particular, the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is basically about repeating the material studied earlier in the year. The website provides access to excerpts from a particular textbook used by a particular school.
Importantly, this resource can be used by those without broadband internet access. We are well aware of a number of technical difficulties involved in setting up distance learning, so this project is even more focused on the schools and residential areas without broadband internet access. This resource can be accessed from laptops.
We will make these resources available to schools. Files can be downloaded and used at schools without high-speed internet access. This will help overcome challenges, which we are all well aware of, and which arise during home-schooling for children who do not have high-speed internet access.
Most importantly, the contents will be fully compliant with the federal educational standard. To reiterate, these textbooks have been approved by the Ministry of Education and fully comply with the curriculum. Teachers and parents mentioned the need for such a resource. I’m grateful to the publishers for making this resource available. Schools can start using it.
Also, the Education Ministry’s website has a list of educational resources that can be used for distance learning, including, primarily, Russian Electronic School, Moscow Electronic School and a number of other information resources. This particular resource - My School Online - will be included on this list as well.
I will take this opportunity to clear up the situation with the unified state exam. It will not be cancelled. The Ministry of Education, in conjunction with Rosobrnadzor, drafted another unified state exam schedule, according to which the first exam will take place on 8 June. Now, given the circumstances, we are looking to extend the academic year for the 11th formers, who would be taking the unified state exam until 8 June, so that they will take the unified state exam after 8 June.
Once again, I’m asking parents and students to follow the rules, including the rules established by Rospotrebnadzor. Everything the Government is doing is primarily aimed at safeguarding the health of the schoolchildren. We need to stay at home as much as possible to shorten the duration of these measures, after which we will be able to return to our normal routines.
