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- "Keys" to knowledge: how students help children from small towns and villages prepare for the Unified State Exam
"Keys" to knowledge: how students help children from small towns and villages prepare for the Unified State Exam
It is already difficult to imagine preparing for the Unified State Exam and entering a university without tutoring and courses. But not everyone has the opportunity to pay for additional lessons. The Keys project, founded six years ago at the social department of the Moscow Diocese, helps teenagers from the regions, large and low-income families to take the Unified State Exam with high scores and enroll in budget places at local and leading metropolitan universities. On the eve of Teacher's Day, Izvestia correspondents visited several centers of the project and talked with its founders.
"Keys" in Shuya
The Moscow – Ivanovo train stops in Shuya for just a couple of minutes. A small merchant town with a population of just over 50,000 people, founded in the 16th century on the banks of the Teza River, is located just 320 km from the capital and 40 km from Ivanovo. In 2024, the Keys educational project began operating here to prepare children from large and low-income families for school exams and university admission. It became the fifth in the Ivanovo region: in the same year, three more such centers were opened in the towns of Rodniki, Yuryevets and in the village of Lukh.
The history of the project began in 2020 in Moscow. At that time, the children of the chairman of the Synodal Department for Charity, Archpriest Mikhail Potokin, were preparing for their final exams. The preparation period was not easy: it was necessary to deal with the requirements, hire tutors.
— My children enrolled, but I wondered how families who do not have the opportunity to hire tutors or pay for courses cope. There was a desire to create a charity project so that teenagers from such families would have every chance of admission. We opened the first two centers at churches in Moscow: there were only four groups and two subjects — Russian and mathematics. Our classes were immediately taught by senior students of Moscow State University and the Higher School of Economics. After the first year, we realized that we were really needed in the regions," recalls Mikhail Potokin.
Over the 20 years of the USE's existence, an entire industry has built up around it. Private tutors, online schools, and university courses prepare for exams. Parents give tens of thousands of rubles for training, hoping that the child will pass high scores and enter a university. But not all families have money for tutors.
— Studying in a good online school in only one subject costs about 35 thousand rubles per year. For admission, three subjects are most often needed, which results in a minimum of 105 thousand rubles. At the same time, for example, a family lives in the region on a small salary, pays a mortgage and raises more children. Therefore, we see that this project is really in demand," says Vladlena Kalashnikova, Executive Director of Keys.
The project is aimed specifically at children from such families. The team launched its first regional centers in 2021 in Kineshma, Ivanovo Region, and Syktyvkar, Komi Republic. At that time, Klyuchi had only 40 students in grades 10-11 and several teachers. Over the past six years, the project has grown to become an all-Russian one. This year, the 40th center was opened in the city of Bodaibo in the Irkutsk region, 1,500 km from the capital of the region.
This is the furthest point from Moscow where the project is operating. In total, it is developing in 21 regions. Starting this school year, the centers prepare not only high school students for the Unified State Exam, but also students in grades 8-9 for the OGE. The number of students has grown to 1,700. New participants are found in local schools, and some teenagers learn about the "Keys" from friends. Often, parents, seeing the results of older children, bring younger ones into the project.
Training is conducted in all the basic subjects required for admission. Children can choose a maximum of three, with classes for each class taking place twice a week.
This year, the project team began interviewing parents to make sure that they really needed the "Keys".
— Last year, we realized that in October and November, immediately after the start of classes, some of the guys leave. Some people think that since classes are free, you can sign up, and then as it goes. As a result, they do not calculate the load and are not ready for our schedule. We decided that we need to raise the entry threshold, so now we explain that we have two classes per week for each subject, and there are homework assignments, without which learning and good results are impossible,— says Vladlena Kalashnikova.
In the first lesson, all students write a test so that the supervisors can determine their level of knowledge and divide them into groups according to difficulty. There are a maximum of 12 teenagers in each "class". Classes are mostly held in an online format. High school students study for 1.5 hours, younger students study for 45-50 minutes.
This academic year, 21 students are preparing for exams at Klyuchi in Shuya. For the first month, the supervisors ask teenagers to come to class so that they can get to know each other and get comfortable. Then students can connect to lessons from home and come to the center only for tests. However, not everyone has the necessary equipment at home, and some students travel to the centers all the time. Therefore, the team continues to open full-time classes in the regions, rather than just connecting children to online groups.
Valeria, a 10th grade student, came to her first lesson from a village located 20 km from Shuya. I learned about the project from a friend who studied at the Keys last year for university admission. Valeria wants to enroll in Sechenov University in Moscow. As the student herself says, it will not be possible to prepare at school for admission to such a serious university.
There is a small school in the village where Valeria lives. There aren't many students, there are only seven people in the girl's class. But there are not enough teachers — some teach several subjects at once. This situation is developing in many educational institutions in the regions: last year, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin announced a shortage of almost 30% of teachers in Russian villages.
— Now in Moscow, a teacher can receive three to four times more than a teacher in a rural school. Therefore, of course, young teachers do not stay in such villages and go to large cities. One of our tasks is to bring good teachers back here. So far, we have been able to do this online," says Archpriest Mikhail Potokin.
16 graduates in Lukha
Another Klyuchi center has been opened 75 km from Shuya, in the village of Lukh on the banks of the river of the same name. There are about 2.5 thousand inhabitants here. Children from the nearest villages and villages also study at the local school.
The Klyuchi Center opened here in 2024 and is located at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. Two years ago, the rector of this church, Priest Evgeny Galkin, a former music teacher and musician, proposed to Archpriest Mikhail Potokin to launch a project in the village. The team of "Keys" arrived, stretched the cable, brought laptops and headphones — and that's how it turned out.
In two years, 16 students graduated from the center. This year, 33 people are already engaged in the "Keys". The room where the children study is heated with firewood. Gas was brought to the village only two years ago, but some houses still have to be warmed in the old-fashioned way. However, this does not prevent students from achieving high results.
— Our village is far from the centers, parents simply do not have the opportunity to take their children to the city for training. There are not enough specialists in the local school. This is the second year I've been teaching chemistry at school, because there's no other teacher. In such a situation, children are happy to join the project. This year, two guys from the village of Porzdni came to us, it is 20 km from the Lukh. They study in the 10th and 11th grades - there are no other children there," says Irina Kuleva, the head and curator of the center, former school principal.
Who teaches at the Keys Project
Students from the capital's universities work as teachers in the project. They are only a few years older than their students.
— We were taught by people who had recently passed the Unified State Exam themselves. They know the whole structure of exams and are already studying at universities. Moreover, they are all young, so it is easier to find a common language with them. I studied at the center for two years, it was a great time," recalls Daria, a graduate of the project.
A total of 167 people teach at Klyuchi. Moreover, they receive a decent salary for their work.
— This is not volunteering. We have two target audiences.: We help children prepare for the Unified State Exam and help students get a job in their field and teaching experience. This was originally the idea of Mikhail's father. Methodologists, university professors and candidates of sciences, work with our teachers. This is a very serious composition, therefore, the results of our students on the Unified State Exam are higher than the average Russian ones," says Vladlena Kalashnikova.
In order for teachers not to remain in the memory of students only as a picture on a laptop, the Keys team organizes offline meetings of mentors with teenagers.
"Teachers do more than their main job: they help psychologically during their studies, and they continue to communicate with students after they graduate and enroll,— says Mikhail Potokin.
Who supports the "Keys"
The project costs about 5,000 rubles per month to educate each child, or at least 8.5 million rubles. Financing comes from business: 39 centers were helped to open by one philanthropist, the head of a large company. A local company offered to launch the center in Irkutsk.
— The shortage of personnel experienced by local businesses encourages them to invest in youth education. A company from the Irkutsk region tells us exactly this: they don't just want to help, but want the children to study and return to work for them," explains Vladlena Kalashnikova.
After graduation, children are not abandoned. The project is currently financially helping four former students who study in Moscow.
— We have just started to develop this area. We will be looking for philanthropists and companies that, for example, will be willing to pay a scholarship now in order to hire a person later. We understand that the child is talented and capable, but in order for him to study, he needs financial support," says Mikhail Potokin.
Graduates of Klyuch earn high scores and enroll in regional and metropolitan universities, including Moscow State University, the Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg State University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University and others. Some former students return to the project as teachers.
But, according to Archpriest Mikhail Potokin, the project is not limited to this. Communities are being created in the regions where children are not just taught, but supported and helped. Meetings and games are organized in the centers, children are taken on excursions, and the best students are taken to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The team is currently thinking about helping former graduates find employment after university. But another important goal of the project is spiritual.
— Our goal is not only to enroll — we want the child to be comprehensively developed and not to think that he cannot do something. Getting an education is not enough: you need to find a job, build a career, understand where to move and develop, — said Father Mikhail.
Therefore, according to him, the project team strives to build a system that would act as a social elevator for children. It also awakened a person's desire to help others.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
