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- Holidays for the price of two: why holidays in children's camps were considered inaccessible
Holidays for the price of two: why holidays in children's camps were considered inaccessible
The deputies of the State Duma sent an appeal to the government on the organization of children's recreation. The lower house of parliament called country camps inaccessible to most children and demanded that measures be taken to remedy this situation. Experts note: The cost of travel packages has increased significantly this year. Izvestia investigated whether vacation in country camps remains the privilege of a small number of children and what to do about it.
What the deputies demand
The resolution on the appeal to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin was adopted at the plenary session on Thursday. This is a second letter to the Prime Minister regarding the organization of children's recreation: the previous one was sent back in October. At that time, the State Duma issued 20 recommendations to the government, but only eight of them were implemented. Eight more are in the process, and four are still pending.
Now the deputies demanded to finish this work.
One of the main complaints is that "there is still no solution to the issues of developing possible mechanisms for refunding part of the funds for the purchased vouchers to parents." Apparently, we are talking about the return of the children's cashback program. Also, the recommendation on measures to support children's health camps has not been implemented: tax benefits and preferences, subsidizing energy costs, heat supply, etc. have not been worked out.
State Duma deputies are also asking to complete an analysis of the use of real estate that previously belonged to children's camps and propose legal mechanisms for returning them to their original functionality. It is indicated that monitoring has identified 678 children's camps that have been redeveloped and turned into private property, but measures are being taken to restore only 24 of them. Moreover, the deputies fear that after the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea, children's camps in Crimea may be redeveloped. They asked the government to take this issue under control.
A number of other requirements relate to ensuring equal access to children's camps.
Deputies will wait for a response from the government until June 1, 2025.
Announcing this statement, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin pointed to the results of a survey on his Telegram channel, according to which 61% of its participants declared the inaccessibility of children's camps. They cited the high cost of vouchers, the difficulties of acquiring them, the lack of places, and the deterioration of the material base as reasons.
Why are children's camps unavailable?
Tatyana Ivanova, head of the PCT Committee on Children's recreation, cites data from the Ministry of Education, which shows that 18.8 million school-age children in Russia, and about 6 million of them will go to children's camps.
— Accordingly, 70% of our children are not covered by children's recreation at all. But these 6 million include all types of children's recreation, including urban camps at art houses and schools," she told Izvestia. — In total, about 32-33 thousand camps of all types will open, but suburban ones — only 1,973 according to Rospotrebnadzor, announced at a meeting in the Federation Council. This is one of the reasons why children's holidays can be considered inaccessible.
The Foundation for the Development of Children's Camps in 2022-2024 conducted a study based on Rospotrebnadzor statistics, according to which only about 10% of schoolchildren rest in suburban children's camps every year.
Another thing is that not all parents consider holidays in children's camps as a priority for their children, Andrey Danilkov, Chairman of the Board of the foundation, told Izvestia.
He noted that in all regions there are special programs at the level of municipalities and regional authorities for children's recreation in country camps. To participate in these programs, you need to apply as early as October or November, so that you can send your child to a children's camp for very little money through compensation and subsidies. There is a shortage of jobs in the public distribution sector, but it is not global.
But in the commercial sector, demand is very, very high, while recreation is not available to everyone. The expert, citing a survey by the foundation, points out that this year many camps have significantly raised the cost of a trip. Prices remained at the level of last year by only 6-7%, while all others increased the cost by 5-10% to 25-30%.
Tatiana Ivanova cites similar figures: cost growth from 12 to 20%, and somewhere up to 25-30%. The cost of travel to the children's camp has also increased, especially if we are talking about holidays in another region, at sea. In addition, there are physically few camps, and even though they are expensive in many regions, there simply are not enough places.
Professor Lyubov Khrapylina, director of the Scientific and Educational Center for Social Development of the Presidential Academy, points out that the average cost of a 10-day trip is now about 125 thousand rubles.
She points out that in Russia there are preferential categories of children who can get a free trip: children left without parental care, children with disabilities, children from low-income families, children of deceased servicemen who suffered during natural disasters, armed conflicts and terrorist attacks, refugees and others. Local authorities can supplement the list of beneficiaries, so in many regions, students from large families also receive vouchers. Free vouchers for various services to federal children's centers, such as Artek and Orlyonok, are provided separately, according to special quotas that the camps distribute between regions. But most children "cannot have an organized rest in children's camps, and their rest depends on their parents in terms of maintenance, safety, and finances," says Lyubov Khrapylina.
Why are children's camps so expensive
Andrey Danilkov is sure that the increase in the cost of vouchers in children's camps is often justified.
"Food inflation is only officially somewhere between 12-13% in the country, and one of the main expenditure parts of the camps is catering,— the source told Izvestia. — Children's recreation, in principle, cannot be a cheap service, it requires a lot of money to organize it. It is necessary to comply with all regulatory requirements of the supervisory authorities: from Rospotrebnadzor to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The number of staff is the other side of the coin. There is more of it than in adult sanatoriums and rest homes, because a whole army of teaching staff is needed: counselors, teachers, methodologists.
At the same time, the expert notes, there are serious problems with personnel in the field of children's recreation, which also affects the high cost of travel packages. There are not enough counselors because they are not paid enough: significantly less than nurses and attendants. Medical workers are generally the highest—paid category of camp staff, because their presence is mandatory, there are many requirements for this aspect, but few people are interested in seasonal work. Therefore, they dictate their terms to the market.
It's the same with support staff — it's often not easy to find them in such numbers for several months.
How to solve the problem
Andrey Danilkov believes that the financing of children's vouchers should be carried out not only from the parent and regional budgets, but also from federal funds.
— The state has now completely eliminated this. It doesn't matter in what form the federal part of the payment should appear: the annual school certificate or the notorious children's cashback, the shadow of which still roams Russia. It is important that it should be. Only then will we talk about a state—based systematic approach to organizing children's recreation," the expert is sure.
Tatiana Ivanova points out that the government is already solving the problem of the shortage of camps: subsidies are being allocated for the construction of prefabricated buildings for children's camps. But we need to work with vacation prices: try to reduce the cost of children's camps by reducing electricity tariffs and other economic measures. And also to help parents directly — with the help of a cashback program or other similar measures.
Lyubov Khrapylina believes that the law "On Basic guarantees of children's rights in the Russian Federation" should explicitly include an article "On the organization of children's recreation and the rights to it of every child citizen of the Russian Federation."
At the time of publication, the Ministry of Education had not responded to a request from Izvestia about the unavailability and high cost of children's summer holidays.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
