Kremlin discusses problems of upbringing the young generation

Today, Vladimir Putin has held a session of Culture and Arts Council devoted to the problem of children and young generation. Having given up the old Soviet ideology, the society still has not developed a new system of values, and this most badly affects the most unprotected part of the society - children.

Vladimir Putin: "I am going to speak on the problems that stand in the way of establishing a normal spiritual environment for the development of our young generation, an environment so necessary to bring up a full-fledged, valuable generation of citizens. We have gotten rid of the domination of ideology in upbringing of the youth, yet we have not been able to replace it with right approaches that are adequate to modern realities. Children's loneliness, their lack of supervision even in families, devaluation of cultural values, and deficit of upbringing ї all these factors form the base for increasing juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, and child neglect. We need new pedagogy, a new system of education in schools, families, and social institutions. And for that pedagogy we need to create a system of cultural values that conform with the nowadays' realities.

The task of creative intellectuals and the creative elite is to create such cultural patterns that will be able to displace the miserable characters and plots promoted by the mass media. Most major TV channels violate their license terms in what concerns children's broadcasting. In this connection we must at least tighten the control over the observance of license norms, which is the task of the appropriate ministry. In general, licensing principles should be developed with a view on enhancing the share of children-oriented broadcasting. I, for example, consider absolutely unacceptable the practice of rising prices for children's books and popular and scientific literature, which has been evident over the recent few months. I think this is a task for both myself and the government."