President Putin is glad more Russian schools come to use computers

Education is not only a set of knowledge, but also ideology, which transmits the idea of life, good and evil to children. Vladimir Putin expressed this opinion at a meeting with the teachers of the Kostrovo school.

The president pointed that it was an ordinary school, but with a peculiar touch: 70 percent of its teachers were this school former leavers. He was glad to stress that this school had seen many innovations such as computerization. The head of the state admitted that he approved of the Russian schools' computerization process.

Putin's visit to the Kostrovo school began with a meeting with first-year pupils. He congratulated them on their first school day. The children, in their turn, demonstrated their first knowledge and recited the Russian hymn's first verse by heart.

Then the president attended a lesson on ecology. Seventh-year pupils spoke about their work in the ecology camp, about tourist meetings, where they had taken part and took first place in the area study competition. The children said that in summer they worked in the school yard, growing vegetables, and told about their ecology work implying springs development and forest cleaning.

Putin asked the children whether there were fires in the neighbouring forests. The answer was negative. "The forests must be treated carefully," the president said. This year has witnessed a lot of fires, also in the Moscow region, which caused big damages, hard to reverse. The head of state pointed that things like ecology and knowledge of the native place were very crucial.

This lesson was followed by a short conversation with the school principal Natalia Korolchenko, the Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov, the governor of the Moscow region and the teachers during a tea break. They touched upon social conditions and teachers' salaries.

Then the president visited the canteen, where the second-year pupils were drinking tea with just-baked rolls. "Hardly have you began studying when you are drinking tea!" the president joked. He asked the children whether they were eager to come to school this year and why. "We have good teachers," was the answer.

The president, in his turn, said that they had a very good and comfortable school with good traditions.

The head of state also visited the gym and the computer room.