An aide to the Russian president, former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, stated that the duration of schooling and higher education in Russia should be reduced.  He made this comment during a meeting with the regional members of the Russian Military-Historical Society in Murmansk, as reported by TASS.

In his opinion, teenagers should start thinking earlier about what they want to do in life.  "The times demand a reduction in the length of secondary education; having 11 years is an unaffordable luxury. It’s as if we’re living in the 19th century.  Education needs to be compressed so that people can enter professional training earlier and be competitive, instead of starting to ponder their future at 19. Everything will happen sooner and faster," Medinsky said.

He also noted that five- or six-year higher education programs will also likely be shortened in the future.  The presidential aide believes that education will become more time-efficient and specialized.

"It will be designed for the next 10 years, and then people will need to retrain after that. Those who don't learn new things will simply become uncompetitive," he concluded.

A few days ago, an aide to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, former Chechen Prime Minister Muslim Khuchiyev, called for the banning of the teaching of Darwin's theory in schools.  In his opinion, "it’s a flawed theory" that "contradicts religion."  

Khuchiyev's proposal was supported by Konstantin Malofeyev, the owner of the Tsargrad TV channel, who is often referred to as the "Orthodox oligarch." He believes that the Russian education system currently faces a choice of whether to teach fifth-graders that they are "in the image of God or that they are upright primates," according to Meduza.