Chechen schools are ready for new school year

The institutions of general education of Chechnya have completed their preparations for the new school year, the Ministry of Education and Sciences of Chechnya has reported. Parents of pupils are afraid that the initiative of introduction of the mandatory school uniform for pupils will not be successful.

"All the 446 schools have been repaired; and the issues relating to provision of free meals to certain categories of pupils have been solved," said a source from the above Ministry.

Besides, the work of providing all the pupils with free textbooks is in the final stage. The source told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that more than 200 million roubles were allocated for buying the books.

Also, in the new school year a uniform dress code will be introduced for all the pupils: a white top and dark bottom. High school pupils will have to wear strict suits.

Parents are worried about the forthcoming expenses for preparing their children for school, Zalina Kh., a resident of Grozny, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Akhmad Sh., another Grozny resident, said that he had faced cases during the earlier attempts to unify the school uniform, when parents were forced to buy the uniform in particular stores and from particular sellers.

According to the above Ministry, to date, Chechen schools employ more than 14,800 teachers, while the number of pupils is about 218,000.