Report - UNDP Russia

egions the poverty rate is higher, though notmuch higher, than the national average (Figure2.6). Orenburg Region is in the worst situation,with a poverty rate of 18%, due to a large share ofrural population.Human development depends on healthand education as well as on income levels.Educational coverage of children and youngpeople and improvement of educationalinfrastructure are particularly important. TomskRegion is beyond compare with respect to highereducation. The number of students per 10,000population in Tomsk Region is 1.7 times higherthan the national average. In Tatarstan this indexis 14% higher than the national average.However, most fuel & energy regions do not havelarge university centers. Vocational secondaryeducation is relatively well provided in AstrakhanRegion (the number of students at this level per10,000 population is 1.5 times higher than thenational average), and also in Bashkortostan,Perm and Krasnoyarsk Territories and inOrenburg Region (about 25% higher than thenational average).In Soviet times the northern autonomousdistricts received inputs of skilled labor fromother regions. Since 1990 the districts have seena boom in paid education. Many highereducational establishments from elsewhere inFigure 2.6Poverty rate in regions specialized in fuel & energy production, %Russia opened branches in the districts, offeringvery low teaching standards. Regionalgovernment in Khanty-Mansi District thenbacked creation of a network of local educationalinstitutions as part of an innovationaldevelopment policy, gradually forcing out thebranches. Three educational districts wereorganized with centers in Khanty-Mansi, Surgutand Nizhnevartovsk. This increased access tohigher, vocational secondary and vocationalelementary education for young people fromrural areas and towns. Each center has aspecialization: environment (Khanty-Mansi), oil &gas exploration (Surgut), construction and thepower industry (Nizhnevartovsk). Thisprogramme placed a heavy financial burden onthe regional budget, and some institutionalfunding problems had to be resolved: since 2005Russian law has made higher education thejurisdiction of the federal government andstipulates that funding should come from thefederal budget. Nevertheless, the number ofstudents in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Districtgrew by 10 times between 1995 and 2008,compared with national average increase of 2.5times.Capacity problems in pre-school andschool education are unresolved in most regions,though the problem is less acute in schools. Only402000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 200735302520151050Yamal-Nenets Autonomous DistrictNenets Autonomous DistrictKhanty-Mansi Autonomous DistrictRepublic of TatarstanTyumen RegionKemerovo RegionSakhalin RegionRepublic of BashkortostanRF national averageTomsk RegionPerm TerritoryKomi RepublicSamara RegionAstrakhan RegionKrasnoyarsk TerritoryOrenburg Region38 National Human Development Report in the Russian Federation 2009