Russia's revised national education policy reflects ICPD international education agenda.

An entire chapter of the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994, is devoted to education, characterized as a "key factor in sustainable development", as well as "an indispensable tool for the improvement of the quality of life". The Programme of Action sets forth the following objectives: to achieve universal access to quality education, with particular priority being given to primary and technical education and job training, and combating illiteracy and eliminating gender disparities in access to, retention in and support for education; to promote non-formal education for young people, guaranteeing equal access for women and men to literacy centres; and to introduce and improve the content of the curriculum, so as to promote greater responsibility and awareness on the interrelationships between population and sustainable development, health issues, including reproductive health and gender equity.

The Russian Federation's education policy, reflecting the overall national interests in this sphere, takes fully into account the international education agenda attached to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, as well as world trends that call for profound changes in the system of education, e.g. transition to a post-industrial information society, emergence of global challenges that can only be solved by international cooperation requiring quite a new thinking from the younger generation, sustained economic growth, competition and reduction of unskilled and semiskilled labour and deep structural changes in the sphere of employment.

The Russian Government is implementing measures to ensure its citizens' right to education, guaranteed by the Constitution and protected by Federal laws. Basic principles of education policy are stated in the national doctrine for education through 2025, and the Plan of Action for the implementation of the 2002 Dakar Initiative--"Education for All"--has been endorsed. National policy is based on ensuring a quality of education that meets up-to-date requirements, while retaining its fundamental nature and compliance with the present and future needs of individuals, society and the State.

Full-scale political and socio-economic reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s considerably affected the Russian system of education. They enabled the academic autonomy of colleges and universities, a variety of educational programmes and institutes, and the development of the non-governmental sector of education. The system-wide crisis of the 1990s, however, significantly slowed down positive changes. In order to give new impetus to the reform of education in Russia, the Government adopted the "Concept of Modernization of the Russian Education through 2010". The ultimate goal of the modernization process is the creation of a mechanism of sustainable development of the education system.

Education in Russia, being closely and inherently tied to science--both fundamental and applied--becomes a major driving force of economic growth, increasing its efficiency and competitiveness, which makes it one of the most important factors of national security and welfare, and for the well-being of every citizen. Full education potential has to be used for society's consolidation, preserving the united socio-cultural fabric of the country, warding off ethnic tension and social conflicts, bearing in mind the priority of human rights and the equality of national cultures and various confessions, and levelling out social disproportions.

It is imperative to ensure equal access of young people to high-quality education, in conformity with their interests and personal inclinations, irrespective of family income, residence, nationality and health. Furthermore, every effort is put forth for the social protection of children and teenagers deprived of parental care.

The renovation of education is a political and nationwide target and therefore has not been and would not be realized as some departmental project. Society and State educational interests may not always fit into departmental ideas for the entire system, which is why any prognosticated courses of renovation and further development of education should never be confined to the framework of the educational community and departments alone.

The first stage of the education reform envisages a complete renewal of the State's responsibility in the education domain. The Government launched the process of reform, providing necessary conditions for large-scale participation of the whole society in the process. What is of particular importance at this stage is the elaboration of instruments to manage innovation processes, thought of to put new models in education.

All in all, education becomes increasingly oriented to the labour market and the nation's socio-economic growth requirements. Contracts with eventual consumers are partly forcing out State orders, particularly for primary and secondary vocational education. This will help bring down the rates of budgetary financing of vocational training. At the same time, financing of general education from regional and local budgets will keep high growth rates up to the end of the current decade.

The Russian Ministry of Education's action framework for 2002-2004 provides for: more accessible pre-school education; a guaranteed system of government-paid educational services to the pre-school institutions; support and development of their material basis at the expense of the founders; and financing of child maintenance on parents' account, with a simultaneous targeted support for low-income families. Russia is ready to live up to the responsibility of providing everyone with the right to obtain high-quality education at schools or in the framework of alternative programmes on a level that is considered "basic". An important education-reforming measure is the renewal of the technologically advanced registration of school-age children and the setting-up of a State-and-public system that ensures basic general education, as well as its monitoring.

At the ICPD, member States agreed that, beyond the achievement of the goal of universal primary education in all countries before the year 2015, every nation should ensure the widest and earliest possible access by girls and women to secondary and higher levels of education, as well as to vocational and technical training, bearing in mind the need to improve the quality and relevance of that education. In order to eliminate any gender disparities, State Duma's (Lower Chamber of the Russian Parliament) Committee on Maternity, Family and Youth has drafted a concept of legislative activities for safeguarding equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women.

It stipulates, in part, male and female equality in obtaining education and skill retraining, which is part of the programmes of vocational orientation, training and retraining. Girls, as a rule, outstrip boys in learning but their professional choice is limited. So far they have always been bent to take "female professions", boiled down to home-keeping and family burdens. Russia pledges to apply a comprehensive package of measures aimed at amending social purposes, moral values and behavioural models for the elimination of any gender-based discrimination and the cultivation of mutual respect between boys and girls, and men and women.

The United Nations Secretary-General, in his report prepared for the 36th session of the Commission on Population and Development in April 2003 devoted to the specific issue of education and development, pointed out that the world today faces enormous challenges, including among others, globalization of production and trade, conflicts and increased ethnic rivalries, a widening digital divide, and persistent problems of famine, pandemics and unequal resource distribution. One could not agree more that education is the common denominator for managing these challenges and ensuring that the world is made stable, safe and just.

Yuriy N. Isakov is Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations. From 1996 to 2000, he was Deputy Director of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.