As stated in the document, “in order to improve the state policy in the field of child protection, taking into account the results achieved in the implementation of the National Action Strategy for Children for 2012-2017, I decide to declare 2018-2027. in the Russian Federation the Decade of Childhood.

The decree came into force from the moment of its signing - on May 29. The Government of the Russian Federation, within three months, must develop and approve a list of key events dedicated to childhood until 2020. Going forward, it is expected that cabinet ministers will develop a specific list of tasks within the framework of the Decade of Childhood project for every three budget years.

The Russian authorities are alarmed by the demographic structure of the country's population. This is a natural response to the demographic crisis of the 1990s.

Experts predict an inevitable decline in the birth rate, caused by the fact that the generation of potential parents is initially small. According to Rosstat, in 2016-2023, the number of women in the active reproductive age of 20-29 years, who account for 60% of all births, will decrease by 3.2 million people, which will certainly cause a decrease in fertility rates.

This problem was discussed at the meeting of the head of state with the Minister of Labor and Social Protection Maxim Topilin 26 April. “We are aware of the problems that await us, which originated back in the 90s, when the country faced a massive, if not catastrophic, drop in the birth rate. This leads to the fact that in the near future - experts are well aware of this - the number of women of reproductive age will decrease, and by 2025, according to experts, their number will decrease by 34% compared to 2015,” the head of state said then.

Vladimir Putin also noted that the demographic crisis of the 1990s would affect the structure of the population as a whole, increasing the burden on the working population: the number of older people would increase, and the birth rate would most likely decline. “But we, of course, must and will make attempts to stimulate the birth, we will continue to pursue the policy of motherhood and childhood, but we will need to make certain adjustments to social policy in general,” continued Vladimir Putin.

Thus, the "Decade of Childhood" is a project from among a number of measures designed to offset the negative impact of the crisis of the 1990s. According to statistics, in Russia since 2013 there has been a natural increase in the population. Since 2007, the total fertility rate has been growing in the country at the highest rate in Europe and is the second highest in the world. The share of second and third births has increased, while mortality has decreased.

The desire of Russians to have a second or third child was affected by state policy measures. In 2007, the effect of the introduction of maternity capital and measures to support families with children manifested itself. In 2012, the increase in the birth rate was positively affected by initiatives related to the allocation of free plots of land for large families, as well as regional maternity capital - money that is given in addition to federal payments for the birth of a third child and subsequent ones. However, in the coming decades, the demographic hole associated with the low birth rate in the 1990s will affect.

By his decree, he announced that from 2018 the Decade of Childhood will start in the country. The corresponding order is published on the official portal of legal information.

The Deputy Prime Minister specified that the main issues in the implementation of the new strategy will be nursery care for children, support for motherhood, childhood and demography.

According to her, it is very important "to mobilize the forces and resources of the state in order to qualitatively ensure the health, education and successful development of every child living in our country," the Deputy Prime Minister said during a meeting of the Coordinating Council under the President for the implementation of the National Strategy for Action in interests of children for 2012-2017.

In November 2016, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina suggested declaring the Decade of Childhood in the country. Then Matviyenko said that the new plan would be a continuation of the National Action Strategy for Children for 2012-2017. The speaker also noted that the strategy is designed to "build the main areas of work to support childhood for 10 years, annually adopt specific plans with the designation of priority tasks for a particular year."

From 2015 to 2017, the second stage of the national strategy for children is underway.

Important points of the state plan were measures to reduce poverty among families with children, ensure the availability and quality of education, search for and support talented children and youth, prevent the removal of a child from a family, prevent violence against minors and rehabilitate children who have been victims of violence.

Recall that in November 2016, Vladimir Putin updated the composition of the council for the implementation of the national strategy in the interests of children. The 35 members of the council included the Minister of Education and Science, the Commissioner for Children's Rights, and a member of the Commission for the Support of Family, Children and Motherhood. The main task of the council was to determine the priority areas of state policy in the interests of children and prepare proposals for solving these problems.

In February 2017, Commissioner for Children's Rights Anna Kuznetsova made a statement to "" in connection with the high-profile case of the removal of eight children from the large foster family Del at once.

“The very procedure for taking children away is inhumane,” Kuznetsova said. - We must carefully look into all problematic cases, draw up a "road map" - how we, the defenders of children and families, will act.

It is necessary to talk about the development of a clear algorithm of actions for those who come to check on their families and adoptive families and make decisions about separating children from their mothers. We must also develop clear criteria that exclude the possibility of using such a measure as the removal of children for far-fetched reasons (the linen is not laid out in the right way, covered with the wrong blanket). We also need to think about the algorithm for returning children to families that have fallen under the excessive nitpicking of the regulatory authorities.”

Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva said that the main problem of school education is too weak GEF (Federal State Educational Standards).

“Today they affect students from the first to the sixth grade, but are weak in content.

That is, we do not know what the child should know and be able to do in each of the subjects at the end of each class. Therefore, the first task that faces today and is being implemented now is to fill the standards, ”Vasilyeva said in the winter of 2017.

According to the minister, an excessive number of textbooks, which may not correspond to each other in content, also interferes: “Today there are 1276 of them (textbooks) in the federal list. school programs often do not resemble each other. Therefore, lists of textbooks should be based on the concept of the subject. They must be prepared in all school disciplines by the end of 2017.”

In 2017, the National Strategy for Action for Children ends. Her successor was the declared V.V. Putin's Decade of Childhood program, which will run until 2027. The fundamental directions of the program are to ensure the health, quality and accessibility of education, the comprehensive development of every child living in Russia.

Program "Decade of Childhood"

On May 29, 2017, a decree was signed on a new social program called the Decade of Childhood.

The program is designed until 2027 and assumes that special attention will be paid to such issues as:

schools and nurseries accessible to every child;

support for motherhood and childhood;

demographic improvement.

Since 2018, the "Decade of Childhood" as a new global social program comes into effect.

In the period from May to August 29, 2017, on behalf of the President, the government developed and agreed on the main activities within the framework of the "Decade of Childhood" for the next three years. According to the information provided by the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva, the Decade of Childhood plan includes such priority issues as:

education and upbringing;

issues of orphans and children with disabilities;

family problems and work with parents;

children's recreation and additional education.

Action plan until 2020

The creation of the action plan within the framework of the "Decade of Childhood" was carried out taking into account the achieved results of the "National Strategy of Action for Children". For example, there are shifts in the issue of access to pre-school education, in particular kindergartens. The queue of 28 million seats has been reduced to 68 thousand, and work on this issue continues. Although the same question for children aged 2 months to 3 years is still open.

Activities within the framework of the "Decade of Childhood" for the next 3 years involve work in the following areas:

1. Development and implementation of new programs for material support of families during the birth and upbringing of children.

Questions will be raised:

allowances for families with children;

extension and development of the current maternity capital program;

comprehensive assistance to children from large and low-income families;

assistance to young families in the construction or purchase of housing;

opportunities for retraining young mothers on maternity leave;

measures that make it possible to combine work and child-rearing responsibilities.

ensuring the availability and quality of education for children;

organization of regional centers for psychological, pedagogical and social assistance to children;

accessibility and opportunity for children to receive additional education;

the quality and availability of modern medical care for children;

development and popularization of children's and youth sports;

creation of regional centers and educational organizations to provide education and support for children with disabilities;

organization of centers that will work with gifted children;

creation and development of modern recreation and tourism centers for children;

development of measures to ensure the ubiquity and accessibility of the cultural development of children;

providing children with quality food products.

The program acquires particular relevance against the background of a predicted sharp drop in the birth rate, which, according to scientists, is associated with the birth rate crisis of the 90s.

The timeliness of the adoption of the Decree of the President "Decade of Childhood" is also evidenced by the main results of the first stage of the "National Strategy for Action in the Interests of Children", in which not only state authorities, but also scientific and public organizations were involved.

According to the official assessment of the strategy, work in all the designated areas was carried out in a positive manner. That is why it is so important to achieve continuity in the strategy and program of the Decade of Childhood.

Among the most effective measures, the implementation of which is still ongoing, the maternity capital program was singled out. The increase in the birth rate was the result of a set of measures, but the main link was still the maternity capital payment program. To prevent a decline in the birth rate, the Decades of Childhood program pays great attention to measures to support large families.

Another achievement of the National Strategy, which should be picked up and developed by the Decade of Childhood program, is the upbringing of children without parental care and orphans in foster families. Since the start of the National Strategy, the number of such children brought up in state institutions has halved. And in some regions, for example, in Chuvashia in 2016, 94.5% of orphans and those left without parental care were in foster families. That is why so much attention was paid to the development of measures to support such families in the Decade of Childhood program.

Serious results have also been achieved in the issue of information security of children. The Decade of Childhood will continue to work in this direction.

Caring for children is inherent in all countries and peoples. This is one of the hallmarks of civilization. And yet, I think I will not be mistaken if I say that in our country such an attitude towards children is especially deeply rooted. Not only as an integral part of our culture, as a national tradition, but also as a direction of the state's activity. Moreover, the direction is a priority, the most important.
(From the speech of V. Matvienko)

On June 1, 2012, President Vladimir Putin, by his decree, gave a "start in life" to the National Strategy for Action in the Interests of Children for 2012-2017. Her term expires this year. And the President has just signed a decree approving the Decade of Childhood project for the period 2018-2027. It is hardly possible to find a better confirmation that the family, children, their protection and support are indeed our fundamental values, which largely determine the policy of the Russian state.

Unfortunately, this was not always the case. Russian children turned out to be the social stratum that fully experienced the hardships of the perestroika period and the next decade. Family support, access to quality education, upbringing, protection of their health, protection of children's rights - serious problems were found in all these areas. They accumulated rapidly and were poorly resolved.

That is why the Federation Council, as a chamber of regions, took the initiative to develop a strategic document, the implementation of which would lead to a change in the situation. The Federation Council organized and carried out practical work on the preparation of the National Strategy for Action in the Interests of Children for the period 2012-2017. The document, if you think about it, is innovative, since nothing like this has ever been created in the history of our country.

Adopted five years ago, the National Strategy, in fact, was to deploy the economic, social, financial policy of the state in the direction of children. Have we been able to make such a turnaround? I think yes, we have achieved it. The goals of the Strategy have been achieved, the main tasks have been solved. I will name what gives grounds for such an assessment. First of all, this is the fact that children, the family have become a real priority. A developed system of legal regulation of state policy in the field of family and childhood has been built. In the process of this work, we adopted normative legal acts on such issues of protection of children and childhood, which in our country have never been regulated at all. A wealth of experience in public-private partnerships and social entrepreneurship has been accumulated. We rate it positively. We will develop mechanisms for such interaction.

The social status of Russian children, the possibilities of intellectual and physical development have become much better. In a number of areas, primarily in the field of pre-school and school education, medical care for children, we have come close to the countries that have achieved particularly great success here. The key points can already be noted.

First. Despite the fact that the country is going through a difficult stage, we manage to allocate funds to the implementation of the Strategy and other measures to support families and children to the maximum extent possible at the moment. "Children's expenses" of the federal and regional budgets are not considered by the authorities as a reserve for savings.

Second. Much has been done to support large families. In particular, the maternity capital program has been extended until December 31, 2018. The range of its use has been expanded. Since 2012, there has been a more than 77 percent increase in the number of children under the age of 18 from certain categories of families eligible for obtaining social support at the expense of the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Third. Primary attention is paid to improving the policy of child protection. Thus, the number of orphans and children left without parental care has halved since 2012. Orphans are granted special rights when they are admitted to study at the country's universities for undergraduate and specialist programs. The number of children whose parents are deprived of parental rights is decreasing. The State Duma is considering a bill aimed at increasing the level of social protection for children whose parents are unknown.

The state and society are seriously concerned about the significant scale of violence against children - family and street violence. It cannot be said that a radical change has been achieved here. Nevertheless, a downward trend has emerged: since 2012, the number of crimes against minors has decreased by 18 percent.

The problem of protecting the moral and spiritual health of children has acquired great urgency.

Fourth. The absolute priority of state policy is the protection of the health of children and mothers. Over the past five years, the level of maternal mortality has halved, and infant mortality by more than 40 percent. The program for the construction of perinatal centers in the Russian regions is being carried out in full. The formation of a three-level system for organizing medical care for women during pregnancy and childbirth and newborns is nearing completion. The Concept for the Development of Early Childhood Assistance, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, was adopted.

Fifth. The problem of protecting the mental, moral, spiritual health of children has acquired great urgency. The Federation Council approved amendments to the Law "On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development" and a number of other legislative acts.

Sixth. Especially much has been done over the years to improve the living conditions of that group of children, which for a long time was on the periphery of the attention of the state and society. We are talking about children with disabilities, disabled people. Thus, the size of the social pension for disabled children of the 1st group and children with disabilities has been increased. The right of parents, guardians, trustees with a disabled child under the age of 18 to an annual paid leave at a time convenient for them has been established. Programs are being implemented to create an accessible environment for the disabled, to develop inclusive education.

The main thing, in my opinion, is that the National Strategy brought together representatives of authorities at all levels, civil society structures, scientists, businessmen, and experts. A clear understanding was formed that supporting the family and childhood is not a waste, the return on which is unknown when and what it will be. This is an investment in human capital, the quality of which, as you know, determines the country's competitiveness, and hence its position and role in the world.

Seventh. Primary attention within the framework of the Strategy is given to the rest of children. Active work is underway in the regions to restore the infrastructure of children's recreation and improve its quality. A law has been adopted that introduces qualitatively new criteria and requirements for ensuring the safety of children's recreation. We also make sure that the rest of the children is full of interesting sports and cultural events.

I think that it is precisely from these positions that we need to resolve issues related to filling the "Decade of Childhood" project with concrete content. It should include programs that were adopted during the implementation of the National Strategy for Action for Children, but whose term is beyond its scope. These are the Concept of State Family Policy in Russia for the period until 2025, the Strategy for the Development of Education in the Russian Federation until 2025, the Concept for the Development of Additional Education for Children until 2020, the Strategy for the Development of the Children's Goods Industry for the Period until 2020.

It is necessary to ensure the interrelation of the "Decade of Childhood" with the documents defining the priority directions of the state policy, including the issues of childhood. Among them are the Concept of socio-economic development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2020, the Concept of the demographic policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025, priority projects in the field of education, culture, sports, and education.

Time gives rise to new challenges that require a creative approach, non-standard solutions. "Decade of Childhood" is no exception. I am sure this project will be successful. Because the country has the resources, and because the acute problems in the field of childhood have been resolved, a backlog has been created that allows us to confidently move forward. It is necessary to use the available opportunities as efficiently as possible. One of the most important conditions is the interaction of power and society. We have the necessary mechanisms. The point is to build cooperation between the state and citizens in the sphere of family and childhood.

The presidential decree on this may be signed by the International Children's Day

Photo by Elena Palm/TASS

“This year marks the end of the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the National Strategy for Action in the Interests of Children, it was important to understand what would replace it, and the Chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, proposed declaring the “Decade of Childhood” in our country from January 1, 2018,” recalled the Chairman of the Committee on April 4 Federation Council for Science, Education and Culture Zinaida Dragunkina at an expanded meeting of the VI working group of the Coordinating Council under the President of the Russian Federation on the implementation of the National Strategy for Action in the Interests of Children for 2012-2017. - This initiative was supported not only by the head of state, it is greeted with applause at many meetings, including with children's rights commissioners. The corresponding decree is already being prepared. We hope that it will be signed by the International Children's Day”.

According to Zinaida Dragunkina, parliamentarians, the Government and experts do not expect the program to remain unchanged for 10 years. “Every three years we will adjust the program in accordance with the adopted budget,” she promised.

How to educate a citizen

It is already obvious that one of the main areas of work with young people will be patriotic education. At meetings and meetings at various levels, the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva said more than once: upbringing should become an integral part of education. According to Igor Mikheev, director of the department of the department, since 2017, regional programs have been introduced at the level of each subject, and since 2000 the ministry itself has been supporting the campaign “I am a citizen of Russia”. Schoolchildren have already come up with and implemented several tens of thousands of social projects of ecological, social, cultural and patriotic orientation. The result of this work was the improvement of villages and cities, the restoration of unique cultural and natural monuments.

According to Igor Mikheev, in 2016 the total number of participants in the action throughout the country was more than 500 thousand people. And this is not the limit. Representatives of the department expect that in the foreseeable future the number of schoolchildren involved in the project will increase. “It would seem that half a million is not a little. But if we remember how many school-age children we have in total, and there are 14.5 million of them, it will become clear where to grow and how to develop,” the official explained.

They want to return the counselor to schools

Is it difficult to interest children in all sorts of educational, social and educational projects? According to experts, this task will become easier if you pay more attention to what the guys themselves want to do. Thus, the head of the VI working group of the Coordinating Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the implementation of the National Strategy for Action in the Interests of Children, Pyotr Polozhevets, pointed out that children lack well-established communication with adults - that is, with those "who are older, more experienced, wiser."

Many public organizations are trying to establish "feedback" with children. “We form an action plan in all areas of our work based on the proposals of children under the coordination of adults,” said Alisa Kryukova, Executive Director of the All-Russian Public and State Children and Youth Organization “Russian Movement of Schoolchildren”.

Experts also called purposeful training of personnel for this sphere an important help in education. The Ministry of Education and Science instructed 12 pedagogical universities to train counselors, recalled Zinaida Dragunkina. “They should come to school not only during the children's summer holidays,” she stressed.

At the same time, the chairman of the International Union of Children's Public Associations "Union of Pioneer Organizations - Federation of Children's Organizations" Aleksey Volokhov urged to increase the prestige of the profession of counselors as soon as possible. “What do you think, what is the status of the counselor, if in the staff list of the school he is listed in terms of administrative and economic activities under the “other” item, he asked. The expert also called for the development of a special law regulating the activities of children's organizations, including prescribing the sources of their funding.