Parents of schoolchildren in Dagestan had to buy textbooks at their own expense

Officials promised to solve the problem with free textbooks in schools, but the problem persists, children are not provided with the necessary books, parents said. An employee of the Ministry of Education of Dagestan cited the demographic situation in the republic.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", residents of Dagestan have repeatedly complained about problems with the repair and equipment of schools, as well as the need to buy textbooks for children at their own expense. In September 2024, parents of students at School No. 15 in Kaspiysk said that children were not receiving knowledge of subjects due to a shortage of teachers, and cleaning the classrooms was the responsibility of the students themselves. Mothers of students interviewed by "Caucasian Knot" confirmed that they themselves bought school textbooks.

Before the start of the new school year, parents of Dagestani schoolchildren are complaining en masse on social networks and in the media about the shortage of textbooks. “Is it possible to somehow clarify the situation with textbooks in schools in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk through you? Is it legal that children are given one book out of 10-12, and the rest must be bought? As we know, local education authorities are responsible for this. So, it turns out that they did not initially allocate funds for books or someone stole them?” one of the messages from August 31 says.

Makhachkala residents interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent confirmed that there is a problem with the provision of free textbooks in various schools.

In school No. 26 in Makhachkala, children in many classes were not given textbooks, confirmed Zaripat. "They said there weren't enough books, parents had to buy them themselves. We had to buy them, spent about two thousand rubles on them," the parent told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Parents of students at Makhachkala School No. 59 also reported a lack of sufficient textbooks: out of about ten necessary books, students are given only a few.

"The situation with textbooks is terrible, almost all schools don't have enough of them, and this happens every year. I have two children, they were given 2-3 books. We bought the rest. Any textbooks are available at the book market, they cost from 200 rubles and up. Considering that we have to buy school supplies, uniforms, the amount for us is very large," Albina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Despite the assurances of officials who promised to solve the problem with textbooks, the situation has not improved, the author of the Telegram channel “Ask Rasul” stated.

“All summer long there was nothing but talk about how important it is to provide all schoolchildren with textbooks. (...) The government and the Ministry of Education and Science of the republic have failed to prepare for school. They tell you: “You need to buy 7-8 textbooks for your child,” and you have three more such schoolchildren at home. "Can the head of the republic, Sergei Melikov, comment on how it happened that his government cannot provide children with textbooks?" he wrote.

“At school No. 1, the fifth grade was given only one new textbook, the rest are old, but at least that’s it,” said Magomed.

The school is obliged to provide students with textbooks free of charge during their studies, and parents have no right to force them to buy textbooks and manuals, lawyer Ali Aliyev told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

“Parents’ expenses for purchasing textbooks are not compensated. Currently, there is no mechanism for compensating parents’ expenses for purchasing textbooks, which should be provided by schools free of charge,” the lawyer explained.

An employee of the Ministry of Education of Dagestan told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that the shortage of textbooks is due to the demographic situation in the region and the lack of funds to purchase such a quantity of books. "This year, some schools formed 5-6 first grades, each of which enrolled more than 40 people," he said.

In 2024, Chernovik cited comments by Dagestan Education Minister Buchaev regarding the shortage of textbooks. The reason for the shortage, according to him, is "severe underfunding from the federal center." Another problem is the frequent updating of textbooks, which makes other, still new textbooks unnecessary.

"Today, we have 66% of textbooks physically in the republic's libraries. But only 12% of them correspond to the current list. We have 88% of textbooks - there is a shortage and their absence. “To cover the deficit at one time, we need 7 billion rubles,” Buchaev said at the time.

No comments regarding the shortage of textbooks in the academic year that has begun have been published on the website and in the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Education of Dagestan as of 23-20 Moscow time on September 1.

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