print versionRussian Ministry of Education and Science ordered schools and other secondary education institutions to move from handwritten to machine filled certificates. By the end of the academic year school authorities found out that they needed to buy the special software from the only recommended supplier, and that they would have to several times overpay for urgency.
Last year, Ministry of Education and Science published a draft order on the transition to machine filled certificates, with possible "use of the software module” (the ministry did not mention a specific producer or program). The order has not been approved yet, but the inferior authorities begun sending a notice, saying that “ARM-register” company has already developed and sells special software, and schools should buy it from the “ARM-register” online store. The officials did not bother themselves to inform of the free alternatives of “ARM-register” products.
The cheapest version of the program in “ARM-register” online store now costs 1,000 rubles (at that price you can get distribution by e-mail, but not all schools have the Internet access). Delivery via post will cost 2,400 rubles (and 20 days standby). The most recent proposal of the supplier was a "rush order" of the program for Moscow and Moscow region educational institutions, with self-export from the warehouse, "not to wait for delivery”, at the price of 4,800 rubles.
In brief, 2008-2009 scandals, involving modernization of education ("School Web", "School Linux", "School Portal"), could be taken for beginner mistakes. By 2010, the modernization of all Russian bureaucracy branches has reached such a scale, that it can simply ruin a skeleton of the Russian state.
Read more in Russian