Press Release, 22.04.2020

The Yabloko party has proposed to the Russian government a set of measures to support students and university professors in the situation of the coronavirus epidemic: cash payments to students (12,000 roubles) and university professors (50,000 roubles); transfer of students who have lost their jobs to state-financed places; interest-free loans for the purchase of equipment needed for distance learning; compensation for rental of housing for those who were evicted from dormitories by university authorities.

The Yabloko Bureau notes that “the education system was not ready to work in the regime of on-line studies, and the declared successes in the creation of a digital educational environment turned out to be fiction”. Yabloko calls on the Audit Chamber to verify the effectiveness of spending funds allocated for these purposes.

The party developed a programme of ten urgent measures to support students and university professors and sent it to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. In particular, Yabloko offers the following:

• pay 12,130 roubles (one minimum wage) to all university students and senior students of secondary specialised education as compensation for costs during the period of self-isolation;
• pay 50,000 roubles to universities professors and all the teaching staff for the intensification of labour and as reimbursement of expenses for the organisation of teaching from home;
• transfer to students who have lost their jobs due to the epidemic and are not able to pay for tuition at the commercial departments of universities to state-financed places;
• compensate for rental of housing for those who were evicted from dormitories by university authorities for the period of distance learning;
• grant to low-income students interest-free long-term loans for the purchase of equipment necessary for distance learning;
• oblige educational institutions that have poorly organised distance learning to reduce the amount of payment at their commercial departments.

Yabloko is ready to assist student unions and human rights organisations in monitoring the quality of distance education and respecting the rights of students and university professors.

It should be noted that the Yabloko party has developed a programme of socio-economic and political measures to overcome the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme consists of four blocks: support for the health care system, support for citizens, support for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as a number of political measures, such as, for example, abolishing of the all-Russia vote on Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments. At the end of March, the document was was sent to the President, the Government and the parliament.