FAS: IT IS NECESSARY TO FORM A UNIFIED APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM OF ISSUING CERTIFICATES OF ADDITIONAL EDUCATION

According to FAS Russia, it may be facilitated by the extension of the Law on the State Social Order to additional education of children

Widespread introduction of the system of personalized financing of additional education (PFAE)* will increase its availability. It will promote the development of competition, reduce administrative barriers to entry into the market of non-governmental educational organizations and provide them with state support. It was announced by Ms. Nadezhda Sharavskaya, Head of the Department of Social Sphere, Trade and Non-productive Services of FAS Russia, at the panel discussion “Certificate of personalized financing as a mechanism for implementing a social order in the field of additional education of children”, organized by the Ministry of Education of Russia.

In accordance with the National Plan for the Development of Competition in Russia for 2021-2025, all regions should be connected to the PFAE system not later than 2024. At the same time, regional authorities need to ensure equal access to educational organizations of all forms of ownership and individual entrepreneurs to participate in it.

Currently, FAS Russia receives appeals from non-governmental educational organizations about the continuing problems of implementing the PFAE system in the regions and municipalities. It is reported about bureaucratic obstacles to the participation of non-governmental organizations in the PFAE system, which does not allow to increase the availability of high-quality and popular supplementary education programs to the population without limiting the choice of organizations.

FAS Russia identifies individual cases of unequal access to information on participation in the PFAE system, discriminatory functioning of mechanisms for “quoting” the volume of budget allocation. Also, in a number of cases, there are no mechanisms for concluding contracts, parameters for calculating the standard cost of educational programs are underestimated, long deadlines for including educational service providers in the PFAE system are established, unreasonable decisions on refusal are made, etc.

In compliance with the warnings and regulations issued by FAS Russia, the regions annually eliminate the detected signs of violations. Nevertheless, the antimonopoly authority considers it necessary to prevent the very possibility of their occurrence.

The speaker outlined a number of proposals to improve the PFAE system. The representative of FAS Russia believes that the extension of the Law on the State Social Order** to the field of additional education will eliminate most of these shortcomings, improve the quality of educational services, as well as provide additional opportunities for parents and children to choose an educational organization and conditions for receiving services.

Reference:

* The system of personalized financing of additional education implies issuance of certificates for children from 5 to 18 years to receive additional education at the expense of the state.

** Federal Law of July 13,2020 No. 189-FZ “On the State (Municipal) Social Order for the Provision of State (Municipal) Services in the Social Sphere”.