Valentina Matviyenko and Oleg Melnichenko answered questions from media representatives on Wednesday, September 1, 2021.
Assessing the socio-economic situation in the Penza Oblast, the head of the upper house of the Russian parliament called our region promising.
"I saw that the regional team headed by the acting governor is working in a dialogue with residents. It has an absolute vision of the region's strategic development, an understanding of how to solve issues that have been accumulating for years and that concern citizens," Valentina Matviyenko noted. "We can say that the region's residents have become co-authors of a new strategy for the Penza Oblast socio-economic development. I see that there are positive changes, which is amazing."
"The President of the Russian Federation has clearly outlined priorities, which include education. We need to create conditions for high-quality education and upbringing and to support the pedagogical community and families with children. Education is an investment in a person," the head of the Russian Senate stressed.
According to her, objectively, a lot has been done in recent years. The volume of new schools construction is increasing.
"Now the head of state has set a task for the Government of the Russian Federation – and a decision has already been made – to implement a programme of major repairs of existing schools and their re-equipment with modern tools allowing to use state-of-the-art technologies. This is very important," Valentina Matviyenko emphasised.
She also mentioned the Presidential payments at the beginning of the new academic year to families raising school-age children.
"The support for families with school children - payment of 10 thousand rubles - is a very good help, according to parents whom I met today. They are thankful. One mother said: "I have three children and I have received 30 thousand, so I have fully prepared my children for school." And this payment helped, of course," the Chairman of the Federation Council said.
"It is important that the President supported the idea – and 2023 was declared the Year of the Teacher. This is a symbolic name. It means that additional attention will be drawn to the school, the teacher and increasing the prestige of the teaching profession. The task is to improve the system of remuneration of teachers to increase their salary year by year, according to their qualifications and workload," she explained.
There was also a question about COVID restrictions and prospects for the development of the situation with the coronavirus.
According to Oleg Melnichenko, the best way to fight infection is vaccination.
"In the whole history mankind has not yet come up with another way to overcome certain terrible diseases. I want to say that it is very important for people to understand this and to get vaccinated," the acting governor stated. "In the Penza Oblast, we do not introduce strict measures and mandatory vaccination for groups of professions. We are trying to tell people more, to convince them that it is necessary to be vaccinated."
Valentina Matviyenko added that there is currently no need for emergency measures.
"The overall task remains the same – to talk to people, explain and move on to the all-Russian vaccination. We have no other way to finally defeat the pandemic. And it should be noted that the Penza Oblast has significantly increased the rate of vaccination. I am glad that the Penza Oblast residents are conscientious enough," the speaker of the Senate summed up.
