Over 700 schools in Russia to be closed in 2013 for demographic problem - official
MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax) - Over 700 schools will be closed in Russia in 2013 due to demographic problems, Gennady Onishchenko, the chief of the Russian consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor and the chief public health official, told journalists in Moscow on Wednesday.
"We plan to close 733 educational institutions [schools] this year, including 464 in the Central [Federal] District. You understand the reason: there are not enough children," Onishchenko said.
Over 44,000 schools will be ready to start working in Russia on September 1, he said.
Speaking to journalists on July 23, Onishchenko had said over 13 million children in Russia would go to school on September 1.
"Over 13 million school-age children will start studying in the new academic year, including over 1.5 million first-graders," he said.