In Russia, the first rating of the quality of life in the regions will be drawn up – it will be created on the basis of a survey of Russians who have used public services in the social sphere. This became known following a joint meeting of the Presidium of the State Council and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), which was chaired by Vladimir Putin on April 15. It is assumed that the new mechanism will help improve the work of social institutions: according to VTsIOM, 60% of Russians are dissatisfied with medical services, and 40% of citizens are disappointed with education and social support. The head of state called on the government to analyze by-laws and other documents used in this area in order to save citizens from humiliating bureaucratic procedures.
Table Of Contents
“Decisively clean up”
The main topic of the meeting was to improve the quality of the provision of public services in the field of education, health care, employment and social services. The meeting participants discussed the implementation of the National Social Initiative (NSI), which is aimed at identifying and eliminating various barriers in these areas. We are talking, in fact, about a detailed and step-by-step analysis of different life situations: registration of disability, receiving benefits or enrolling children in educational institutions. Already last year, the NSI was tested in six regions. In 2021, this mechanism expanded to all constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The key indicator will be the growth of citizens’ satisfaction with the received social services.
According to Vladimir Putin, certain reserves are needed to “radically improve the work of social institutions so that they fully meet the highest standards and people’s needs”. In this regard, the president asked the government, together with the ASI and the State Council commissions, to analyze by-laws and other documents in the social sphere.
– The approach here should be extremely clear: it is necessary to resolutely remove senseless demands, unreasonable, endlessly bureaucratic procedures, absurd norms and rules, get rid of everything that exhausts, and sometimes, I must say frankly, even humiliates people, dismantles the collectives of social institutions and demotivates it demotivates them in a professional sense, reduces the efficiency and quality of their work, – said the head of state.
This year, the NSI will draw up the first rating of the quality of life in the regions.
– An annual rating of the quality of life in the regions will be compiled – also on the basis of surveys of citizens. This will give us the opportunity to find new best practices, new management decisions, and the regions will be provided with tools for their exchange and, again, improving their performance, – explained Svetlana Chupsheva.
The Federation Council supports the initiative – it is impossible to measure the quality of life of people based solely on quantitative criteria.
– Of course, you can set a living wage and assume that all people whose income exceeds this level are happy. However, the question is, what is the level of the living wage. If he provides citizens only with food without the opportunity, for example, to educate children or buy medicines, then one can hardly say that a person is satisfied, ”Valery Ryazansky, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, told Izvestia.
The main assessor of the quality of social services should be exactly their recipient, the senator agrees.
Dissatisfaction with quality
According to the VTsIOM polls, 60% are now dissatisfied with medical services, and 40% of citizens are disappointed with education and social support. In the UN Happiness Index for 2021, Russia is in 76th place out of 149 countries, the head of ASI Svetlana Chupsheva said during the meeting. And in the index of a better life, which is made by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Russia ranks 33rd out of 38 states, she added. Our country is ranked 60th in the World Happiness Report 2021.
According to Svetlana Chupsheva, Russians often complain, for example, about the inability to get through to the polyclinics’ registry. In addition, there are cases when a replacement is not provided for a disabled person at the time of replacement of technical means of rehabilitation.
– The terms for receiving services differ from region to region by one and a half, and somewhere in five times or more. For example, an enrollment in a kindergarten for a child from one and a half to three years in the regions takes from a month to two years, an appointment to a cardiologist – from five days to 41, – continued Svetlana Chupsheva.
Meanwhile, doctors, teachers and social workers are forced to spend 50% of their time on administrative routine, she added. Education remains one of the most bureaucratic areas. As a result, every year the number of teachers who are satisfied with their work is decreasing, Anna Marks, director of the Institute of Progressive Education, said in an interview with Izvestia. According to her, if in 2015 the share of teachers who were satisfied with their work was 42%, then in 2020 about 30% give such an assessment.
– This is largely due to the fact that teachers are still presented with mountains of requirements, rules and forms of reports, which they are required to fill out instead of teaching children subjects. Today, 53% of teachers complain about the growth of extracurricular workload and a large amount of bureaucracy. As a result, many are simply leaving public schools for online teaching. To improve the quality of education in schools – paper control must become a thing of the past – the expert is sure.
Anna Federmesser, the founder of the Vera hospice charity foundation, reminded the president that two paradoxes were revealed while working in the field. So, people who received this or that help often do not feel qualitative changes in their lives,
– You got a prosthesis, but – a year after your limb was amputated. And, pardon these details, the stump has changed so much that you can no longer wear this prosthesis. And you can change it only after three years, – she gave an example. – The second paradox that we have identified is that even if a person receives the help that he needs, he is humiliated. A huge number of women who go through the birth of children feel humiliated and do not want to repeat this experience because of the rudeness that they hear in their address.
Some experts, however, warn that people – primarily those living in megalopolises – do not always clearly assess the situation. For all the objectivity of the population’s statements regarding the deterioration of medical care and education, in some cases the discontent also has a psychological explanation. This is due to chronic fatigue syndrome, recalls psychologist Tamerlan Zanikov. Chronic fatigue syndrome occurs due to poor ecology, viral infections, unbalanced load and seasonal blues, he explained to Izvestia.